


The Rise and Fall of L'Manberg

by bellaoftheball, Katisdead123456



Series: The Rise and Fall of L'Manburg [1]
Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: 2020 L'Manberg Election on Dream Team SMP (Video Blogging RPF), Angst, Dream Team SMP Spoilers, Manberg-Pogtopia War on Dream Team SMP (Video Blogging RPF), Multi, Pre-Manberg-Pogtopia War on Dream Team SMP (Video Blogging RPF), Retelling of Dream SMP, Sad, War, literally Just the plot of all the streams
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-04
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-14 21:15:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 27,329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28552206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bellaoftheball/pseuds/bellaoftheball, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katisdead123456/pseuds/Katisdead123456
Summary: I heard there was a special placeWhere men can go and emancipateThe brutality, and the tyranny of their rulersWell this place is real, you needn’t fret, with Wilbur, Tommy, Tubbo, Fuck EretIt’s a very big and not blown-up L’Manburg*My L’ManburgMy L’ManburgMy L’Manburg*that line didn’t age well
Relationships: Cara | CaptainPuffy/Niki | Nihachu, Clay | Dream & GeorgeNotFound & Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream/GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), Niki | Nihachu & Wilbur Soot, Niki | Nihachu/Wilbur Soot
Series: The Rise and Fall of L'Manburg [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2121069
Comments: 2
Kudos: 24





	1. Cue the Character’s Main Motivation!

**Author's Note:**

> I just wanted to set some things straight on how the world works to allow for the suspension of disbelief. Firstly, even though Fundy is Wilbur’s son, they’re pretty much the same age. Second, I decided to base the character designs on how they are typically portrayed in fan art and animatics (e.i. Dream’s smiley face mask and Schlatt’s horns). Third, probably the most important, each character has a certain amount of lives before they die for good. Lastly, since a lot of this storyline was improvised and made up on the spot, I changed some very small details to make it make more sense. I should also mention that Tommy isn’t actually a child but people just call him that to annoy him. And I also break the fourth-wall once or twice in this. Okay, that’s all. Enjoy :).

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “TUBBO!”
> 
> “Yeah?” The boy cautiously stepped out of Tommy’s house.
> 
> “We’re going to war again! Take him!” Tommy threw his sword up to the sky.
> 
> “Ugh, again?!”

The story of the nation of L’Manburg starts with a sixteen-year-old child named Tommy and his music discs. He was a tall, lanky boy with short blonde hair and a loud voice with a slight Yorkshire accent, which all his friends made fun of him for. 

When Tommy first joined the Dream SMP, all he wanted to do was cause chaos. He went around stealing from people and attacking them randomly, even at one point stealing the remains of Dream’s dead horse named Spirit. Dream, the ruler of the Dream SMP, quickly got sick of the child and had him detained. 

Dream was a very powerful man. He was an expert in combat and survival, and only ever lost a duel once. He always wore a white smiley face mask, only ever showing his face to his closest friends George and Sapnap. Rumor has it the reason he never took off his mask was that he didn’t want anyone to see that his face was green. 

Tommy was placed in a cell with levers lining the wall adjacent to it. One of those levers would drop him into a lava pit if it was pulled. He stood in the center of the cell with Dream and George pointing crossbows at his head. Just when Tommy thought the situation couldn’t get any worse, it did. It got much worse. 

Tommy sat in his cell while George kept watch over him one night. As soon as George nodded off, Tommy broke through the bars and ran for it. Tommy managed to become a sixteen-year-old fugitive who was meant to be killed if found in a matter of days.

After days of hiding Dream eventually found Tommy. They made a compromise that Tommy would be exempt from any charges if he promised not to cause any problems. Tommy agreed though he wasn’t the best at not causing problems.

Everything seemed fine for a few weeks. Tommy managed to lie low and didn’t get himself into any more trouble. That is until Sapnap came to him asking for help. He’d gotten himself into a bit of a conflict with two people named Ponk and Alyssa, and needed assistance in taking them down. Tommy couldn’t resist.  
There was one problem, Dream didn’t like when people fought on his land. He came in to try and stop them, but Tommy and Sapanp weren’t going to let that happen. A war broke out that would change the entire world forever.

Just when Tommy thought he won the war, Dream broke the news to him that he had his music discs. Tommy had spent hours collecting them, and they were his most prized possessions. Tommy had the choice to either surrender or to watch them burn. 

Tommy recruited his best friend, Tubbo, in a storm of rage to help retrieve the goods. Tubbo had been his friend for years, and they were nearly inseparable. Tubbo had short blonde hair like Tommy, but he was much shorter than him and had a high-pitched voice, making him look like Tommy’s younger brother even though he was almost a year older than him.  
They decided to confront Dream and tried to solve the conflict diplomatically. 

“Be calm, Tommy,” Tubbo told his friend.

“You know me, Tubbo, I’m always calm.” As soon as they approached Dream, Tommy started yelling at him. “You think you can take my stuff, you green bastard?!”

“You’re the one who started all of this.” He always spoke in an irritatingly nonchalant tone.

“Me? ME?! That was Sapnap! You think you can talk to me like this?!”

“You son of a bitch! I have taken your stuff, and I’m gonna burn it?”

Tubbo cleared his throat. “So how are you, Dream?”

“I am requesting a formal apology for jumping me and trying to kill me. I am keeping your discs and if you cross me I will burn them. ”

Tommy wasn’t the type to give apologies. “We’re best of friends, Dream. Why would I ever cross you?” He asked innocently.

“You literally just crossed me.”

Tommy and Tubbo shook their heads. “That doesn’t seem like something I would do.”

“Yes, it really doesn’t.”

Dream rubbed his temples and began to question why he ever let these two teenagers onto his land. 

Later that night Sapnap ran frantically to the two friends and yelled something unintelligible at them. Before they could ask what was going on he threw them the purple disc and ran away, Dream chasing after him. 

“TOMMY!!! DREAM’S GONNA KILL MEEEE!”

Tubbo helped Sapnap fend him off as Tommy hid the disc in a chest somewhere underground. When he returned, he saw Dream standing in front of a fire, the green disc in his hands.

“Dream you don’t have to do this.” Tommy pleaded.

Dream held the disc right on top of the flames; all he needed to do was let go. “Apologize.”

Tommy set his pride aside for one moment. “Dream, I’m sorry if you felt upset by my masculinity.”

Dream figured that was the best he was gonna get, so he put out the fire and threw the disc onto the ground. Before Tommy could reach for it, he picked it back up and ran. 

Tommy, Tubbo, and Sapnap reconvened and devised a plan. Dream was strong, but with all three of them fighting they surely had a chance of winning.

After hours of fighting, the boys managed to kill Dream and get the second disc back, and Tommy hid it with the other. Tommy met back up with Dream to form a truce, but Dream declared that he would be searching for the discs, and when he found them, he would burn them, just as he promised. Tommy laughed thinking he was just bluffing. He had no idea how far that man was willing to go.

Weeks after the war, Tommy returned to his house to see that the surrounding land had been torn down by Dream. Tommy was mad, but also very confused.

“Dream, why did you tear down the land around my house?”

“I was looking for your discs.” He responded plainly.

Tommy froze. “You didn’t find them, did you?”

“Of course I found them.”

“Can I- can I have them back please.”

Dream laughed. “You’re funny, Tommy.”

“TUBBO!”

“Yeah?” The boy cautiously stepped out of Tommy’s house.

“We’re going to war again! Take him!” Tommy threw his sword up to the sky.

“Ugh, again?!” Tubbo reluctantly copied his friend.

Dream put his hands up in surrender. “Look, I don’t have the discs on me, they’re in a chest in an undisclosed location.”

“Well can you tell me where it is?” Tommy asked.

“No, it’s in an undisclosed location.” Dream hated these little games Tommy liked to play.

“Okay I get that, but can you tell me where it is?”

“No, that literally defeats the whole point of an undisclosed location.”

“Okay yeah, but can you disclose it to me please?”

Dream sighed. “I can’t fucking believe you, Tommy.” He gave the boys an ultimatum, either they give him Tommy’s netherite chest plate or he burns the discs. He gave them twenty minutes to decide.

Instead of complying with Dream, the two boys decided to take him on. 

“Tommy,” Tubbo said as they waited for Dream. “I’ve just had the best idea.”

Tommy shot up. “Really? What is it?”

“Basically, you know how when you put your hand in a bag of crisps, and you get like grease on it from the side of the bag?”

Tommy blinked. “Yeah...”

“What if I get like two bags of crisps, open them, and put them in a bowl, so I have crisps in a bowl?!”

“Tubbo, we have like two minutes till Dream comes and kills us and this is what you’re thinking about?”

Dream came and the two boys lost the battle miserably.

“Look Dream, let’s make peace,” Tommy said. “Give me the discs back, and I will apologize.”

Dream raised his eyebrow under his mask. “For what?”

“... For being a dick,” Tommy replied in an annoyed tone. 

Dream repeated the ultimatum he’d put forth earlier, and as he gave Tommy time to think, he placed a jukebox down and began playing the purple disc to mock him. The three of them stared at the block as the sinister tune of Mellohi played in the background. They all charged at the disc at the same time and after some wrestling, Tubbo broke free with the disc in his hand. Dream tried to run after the boy, but Tommy pushed him back.

“Dream, I give you the chest plate, and you give me the other disc okay?”

Dream agreed and they each quickly dropped their respective items and ran.

Tommy found Tubbo, and they sat on a bench together listening to one of the discs. They won but little did they know, their battles were far from over.


	2. Suck It, Green Boi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just when the men thought things couldn't get any worse, they saw Dream standing at the gates of their nation when they arrived. His mask smiled ominously at them. Next to him stood Sapnap and George, and a single block of TNT.
> 
> "Surrender, or we light the TNT." Dream said as the men approached.
> 
> Wilbur scoffed and stepped forward. What could a single piece of TNT do? "Independence, or death," he said. "If we get no revolution, then we want nothing. We would rather die than give into you and join your SMP. You can blow up one piece of TNT at our gates all you want. It means nothing to us." 
> 
> Dream laughed. "Okay, then." He lit the TNT.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote these first few chapters a while ago, and I honestly don't like them very much, but here you go I guess

As soon as Wilbur Soot stepped on to the land of the Dream SMP, he formed a plan. He was a young British man with curly brown hair, round wire-rimmed glasses, and a black beanie which he wore almost every day. He was very tall, so he towered over most people, and he had a very deep voice with a posh accent, which meant many were scared of him when they first met him. Unknowing of what Wilbur would quickly become, Tommy recruited Tubbo once again to help his older brother.

Now that Wilbur had two loyal people on his side, he decided to start a potion empire. The plan was simple: create a scarcity of potions by claiming they were making people ill and confiscate all of them in order to become the sole producers of safe potions, y’know, good ‘ol capitalism. Wilbur built a van he named the camarvan, which gave them the façade of being innocent hot dog van drivers. This was where the operation would take place. The plan was going smoothly. Most people handed in their potions, blaze rods, and brewing stands with no resistance, but Sapnap refused. He could see right through the boys' plan.

He tried to step into the van, but Wilbur and Tommy blocked him as Tubbo blocked off the potion brewing room. 

“What’s in there?” Sapnap asked sternly.

“There’s a deep fat fryer!” Wilbur lied.

Sapnap pushed past the two of them and saw a quick glimpse of the brewing stands before Tubbo placed the last block. 

“Sapnap, you’re trying to claim that I’m some sort of drug dealer, while I’m just trying to start my entrepreneurship!”

Sapnap rolled his eyes and pushed the three men out of the van. 

“You three are under arrest.” He said as he aimed his bow and arrow at them.

“Under arrest?” Wilbur refuted. “On what charges?”

“Yeah, cracknap, shitnap, pissnap!” Tommy added.

“On the charges of obscuring justice by hiding all your paraphernalia from me-”

“Sapnap what does obscuring mean?” Tommy interrupted.

“Obscuring means hiding,” he answered.

The boy squinted. “No, it doesn’t.”

“Sapnap, I appreciate that you have a bit of a justice boner right now, but I’d also appreciate it if you left me to my work,” Wilbur said. 

Sapnap eventually left them alone and the four men thought they were clear, but they cleared off all the brewing stands and ingredients from the tables and replaced them with furnaces to make their façade more believable.

Sapnap came back a few hours later, this time with armed backup.

“Hello, gentlemen,” Wilbur stepped out of the van as arrows were pointed at him.

“We just want to talk,” Said Sapnap.

Wilbur shrugged. “I’ll talk, I’m innocent.”

“We have nothing against you at the moment,” one of the guards spoke.

“As you shouldn't, I’ve done nothing wrong. Would you like a hot dog?”

“No, we don’t your stupid-”

“I’ll have a hot dog with chili cheese on it!” Sapnap said excitedly. 

“Coming right up!” Wilbur yelled toward the van where Tommy and Tubbo were hiding, and they quickly scrambled to make the hot dog. They eventually brought out a rather questionable looking hot dog and handed it to Sapnap, who chomped it down happily. 

Sapnap and the other guards went off and informed Dream of what Wilbur, Tommy, and Tubbo were up to and they planned a strike against them. Meanwhile, Wilbur looked at his son, Fundy. Years ago, Wilbur had a love affair with a beautiful shape-shifter named Sally. She left him soon after, leaving Wilbur to take care of their newborn son alone. Fundy had tiny fox ears poking out from his head and a tail, something he would grow to be very self-conscious about as he got older. Wilbur always reassured him that he was handsome no matter what; he was his little champion. Since Fundy was part-fox, he aged rather quickly, making almost as tall as his father only a few years after he was born.  
Wilbur gathered his friends and Fundy into the van, and proposed they start a revolution; to create a new country where they were free to do what they wanted without the oppressive rule Dream and his men. 

The first strike on the new, unnamed nation happened as the morning sun rose over the redwood trees. A new recruit by the name of Eret came in to help and claimed his loyalty to Wilbur and the rest of the nation as arrows rained down on them. Wilbur had no reason not to trust him; he had no reason not to trust anyone at this point, so he agreed to let Eret join them.  
Even with extra help, things were not looking good for the men, but they were able to call a cease-fire to save themselves time. Tommy also managed to find a woman to join them. “Good news and bad news,” Tommy had said, “Good news is, I found you a woman, the bad news is, she’s American.” Wilbur didn’t like Americans, so he refused her help. 

Dream began taunting the men mercilessly, threatening to burn down Tommy’s house and kill them all. They were no longer safe, and they knew this, so Wilbur ordered a big, black, and yellow wall to be built for protection and began drafting the Declaration of Independence for the nation he and the rest of the men agreed to call L'Manburg. Upon discovering the new walls being built, Dream went back to his base and wrote a declaration of war against L'Manburg.

As Wilbur frantically wrote the declaration, Fundy sat at the docks, his feet dangling over the edge with a fishing rod in hand. Wilbur had promised he would take his son fishing for the first time that day. Fundy had woken up excitedly, gotten dressed, and packed the bags, but when he arrived Wilbur wasn’t there. He waited for what felt like hours, and eventually, he realized he wasn’t coming. He never showed up for him anymore. 

Dream called his friends Sapnap and George, and they climbed to the top of a mountain overlooking the land as the sun rose above it.  
"Look, George," Said Dream. "Everything the light touches is our kingdom. King's time as a ruler rises and falls like the sun. One day, George, the sun will set on my time here, and will rise with you, as the new king."

George never truly understood Dream’s motivation for protecting his land so determinately, no one ever did, but with the promise of power, George agreed to help his closest friend. Sapnap didn’t think about it at the time, but after looking back months later, he questioned why Dream chose George to be the king, not him. Did he actually care about him?

Wilbur entered his home to find Dream's declaration staring back at him. Dream declared white flags on their base by dawn, or they were dead. Wilbur was not able to afford a war. He was a humble 23-year-old man living out of a van with almost nothing to his name, but then he thought of Fundy. He promised himself he would make a safe world for his son to live in, so he called his men back to the camarvan. As they stood around the table, Wilbur tried to act confidently in front of all the faces staring back at him. They had all put their trust in him, and he couldn’t let them down. He broke the news about the declaration and appointed Tommy as his right-hand-man.  
The war had officially begun. 

Dawning new revolutionary suits, the men marched onto the Dream SMP land, ready for war. When they reached the open field where the battle was meant to take place, they realized they were outnumbered and out-planned. Wilbur had recruited men to his side, but Dream recruited more. Enchanted arrows were shot down on them as they sought cover. Once the men were recuperated, they formed a plan. 

Wilbur ran out of hiding to distract the enemies so the rest of them could climb onto the tower right next to them and begin shooting. The men were too high up to be hit with Dream's arrows, so he and his men receded, but the fight was still far from over.

Eret led the men to a secret bunker he had made where he promised them supplies and safety. 

“Gentlemen, this is the room, the final control room.” He said as they walked in.

Something was wrong. Wilbur could feel it. When they entered, they were greeted with chests lining the walls, each one having one of their names written on it. Expecting to find weapons or other supplies, they all excitedly opened them, but they were empty. 

Wilbur turned around slowly to see Eret grinning, his hand hovering above a button placed in the center of the room.

"Down with the revolution, boys," he said with a smirk. "It was never meant to be." 

As soon as the button was pressed, the walls opened up, revealing George, Dream, and Sapnap waiting. The men stared in confusion as they charged.

Each one of them was taken out, dropping all of their things for Dream to take, with no intention of returning them. Eret saluted and laughed as he watched the chaos ensue.

Wilbur tried to gather what had just happened. He betrayed me. He thought to himself. He betrayed all of us.

As the men marched back to L'Manburg, their hearts left battered and bruised, they encountered Eret once more. Tommy felt anger rise within him.

"You bastard, Eret! We trusted you!" he yelled. He tried to charge at him, but Tubbo held him back. Tommy took a few seconds to breathe, and finally, he looked up again. "I mean this in the nicest way possible, Eret," he paused to chuckle. "You fucked up." 

Eret walked away smugly. He didn’t want to betray his friends, he really didn’t, but Dream promised him something Wilbur couldn’t: the crown. 

The traitor marched into his newly built castle and sat in his empty throne room. He took the crown set beside him and placed it on his head carefully and looked around at the bare smooth stone brick walls. Was it all worth it? 

Just when the men thought things couldn't get any worse, they saw Dream standing at the gates of their nation when they arrived. His mask smiled ominously at them. Next to him stood Sapnap and George, and a single block of TNT.

"Surrender, or we light the TNT." Dream said as the men approached.

Wilbur scoffed and stepped forward. What could a single piece of TNT do? "Independence, or death," he said. "If we get no revolution, then we want nothing. We would rather die than give into you and join your SMP. You can blow up one piece of TNT at our gates all you want. It means nothing to us." 

Dream laughed. "Okay, then." 

Dream lit the TNT. 

Wilbur pushed his men back. “C’mon guys, don’t let this pathetic explosion kill you.”

They laughed. Little did they know that Eret had rigged the entire nation with TNT. They watched in terror as all they had worked for exploded right in front of their eyes. 

As Dream and his friends left, Tommy quickly rounded everyone up and led them to another bunker that he had built. There was no traitor among them this time. He couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity of the situation. “Any last words?” he joked. No one laughed. Instead, they all looked up at Wilbur.

“Now’s the time to slip out that sly last move,” said Tommy. 

Wilbur looked at his friends staring back at him with anticipation in their eyes. “There is no sly last move.” He admitted at last in a solemn tone. “We need to just accept the terms of surrender. They’ve entrapped our land. They’ve set up bombs on our land. They-they’ve destroyed all our homes, and, I feel like I would be a bad general if I didn’t look for conditions of surrender.” He paused for a second. “Tommy I want you to come with me to speak with Dream, and I want you to make sure you don’t run your mouth. No challenging Dream on his honor. No-none of that, okay?”

“Okay, Wilbur.” Tommy looked back at Fundy and Tubbo and saluted. “It’s been an honor, gentlemen.” They saluted back at him.

Wilbur sighed as he and Tommy escorted themselves out of the bunker. “You did well. You did well, Tommy. You were a good right-hand-man. . . It’s just a shame that it has to end like this, looking for surrender on our own land.”

As they walked to Dream’s base, Wilbur felt the shame rise within him. He was meant to protect his son and his friends and he failed. The rest of the journey was spent in silence. 

“I’m here to negotiate for surrender,” Wilbur said when they finally reached Dream. 

“Okay,” He responded nonchalantly.

“We fought well, right Dream?”

Dream hesitated for a moment. “You could say that.”

“What do you mean you could say that?” Tommy felt anger building up inside of him once more. “Dream don’t say that we didn’t fight incredibly, all right? You egotistical green son of a bitch!” 

“Okay fine, you fought incredibly well, we just fought a little bit better.” Dream laughed at them.

“You know what?” Tommy Yelled.

“Tommy--”

“Why don’t we fight? Why don’t we fight right now Dream?!”

“Tommy. TOMMY!” Wilbur frantically tried to calm him down. “Tommy your passion will get you nowhere!”

Tommy ignored him and kept yelling unintelligibly at Dream in his heavy north-England accent. “You’ve blown up all of our shit, so what do you have to lose? Let’s duel, alright? I don’t even care.  
In front of everyone, alright?”

Wilbur yanked him aside before he could say anything else. “What was the one thing I asked, Tommy? The one thing!”

“C’mon, I have to do this Wilbur.”

“Tommy, this isn’t worth it. Your life is worth more than the revolution.”

“Wilbur look around us! For independence.” Tommy had already dedicated his whole life to the new nation, and he was willing to risk it all for it.

Tommy walked back to Dream and they decided the conditions of the duel as Wilbur watched in horror. Each would be equipped with a bow and arrow and suffer damage until they were each on half a heart. They would face away from each other and turn around after walking ten paces. Whoever got shot first lost. If Tommy won, L’Manburg would be granted independence, if he lost they would not be granted independence and he would have to give Dream his favorite music disc, Malohi.

They waited till nightfall when they began the walk over to the location of the duel in tense silence. 

“Listen, I’m not fully supporting your decision,” Fundy said to Tommy. “But here you go.” He handed him his bow. 

“Thank you, Fundy.”

The men waited on the bridge as Dream prepared and Tommy pulled Wilbur aside.

“What happens if I miss?”

“Tommy this was your decision. Tommy, I told you your passion and the fire in your heart is brilliant for the war but it’s not good in these situations.” He looked over at Dream studying the tips of his arrows intently. It was hard to tell what he was thinking with that mask on. “You’ve really got yourself in a mess.”

There was a pause as Tommy thought of what to say.

“Do I shoot him, Will, or do I aim for the skies?”

Wilbur looked at him with brotherly love in his eyes and placed a hand on his shoulder. “I want you to do whatever your heart tells you to.”

It was time for the duel to begin. Tommy threw a potion of harming into the air and waited for it to drop down on them. They felt the pain until they were both on half a heart of health. They turned around and got their bows ready. 

“I will count ten paces,” Wilbur announced. “When I have said the word fire you may turn around and fire upon each other. Do you both understand?”

Both the men nodded their heads.

“Ready, One!”

Tommy and Dream took a step forward.

“Two!”

Tommy felt like his heart was going to beat out of his chest.

“Three! 

“Four!”

Dream couldn’t help but chuckle at how easy the duel would be as Wilbur counted down.

“Five! 

“Six!”

Wilbur tried to keep his shaky voice steady.

“Seven! 

“Eight! 

“Nine! 

“Ten paces fire!”

Tommy and Dream turned around both and began shooting at each other. Each missed a few times, then Tommy fell into the lake they were standing over. When he crawled out, Dream took aim and shot and killed Tommy.

Wilbur, Tubbo, and Fundy each felt their hearts drop to their stomachs as Dream and his friends cheered and laughed maniacally.

The men of L’Manburg walked back to their blown up nation in defeat to say goodbye to it, and prepare to give over their freedom. When they got there, Wilbur realized Tommy wasn’t with them. Minutes later he saw him walking slowly up to him.

“Tommy?” Wilbur shot up. “Tommy where were you?”

“Will, I-I’ve secured our independence.”

“You-- You’ve what?!”

Fundy and Tubbo overheard and ran over.

“How?!” Tubbo asked.

“I gave him the discs. I gave up my discs.”

“You gave him your discs? All of them?” 

“Yeah all of them!” Tommy said in an annoyed tone. He was happy that they won, of course, but he missed his discs already.

Wilbur dragged them all in for a hug. “My right-hand man, Tommy!” 

He paced around excitedly. “I need a new book. I need leather, I need paper, I need ink.” He stopped for a second and looked around at their destroyed land. He placed his head in his hands.  
“We’ve lost so much.”

“We have something that is so much better than any physical item. Freedom.”

Wilbur looked back up and smiled. “Liberty.”

“Liberty,” Tommy repeated.

“The pursuit of victory. We are writing a new document officially declaring our freedom, this time not signed by a traitor.”

Tubbo gathered all the materials they needed and handed them to Wilbur. Wilbur cracked his knuckles before dipping his quill into the ink. He read aloud as he wrote:

“As we gaze upon the swaths of redwood trees, the great hills to our south, and the walls that have protected us. I, as the new president of L’Manburg hereby state YYYYYYYY OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. SUCK IT GREEN BOYYYYY. Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of freedom ”

All the men burst into laughter and each signed the book. They won. They won the revolution, but they would soon find out, the revolution was easy, governing was harder.


	3. Tubbo in a Box. What Will He do?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “We won,” Tubbo said in surprise.
> 
> “I won,” Tommy affirmed. “I won the war!”
> 
> “We won a war!”
> 
> “Yeah, I won a war!”
> 
> “No, we won a war.”
> 
> “Ehhhh... Sure. Tubbo, we did it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter is a lot shorter than the others. Also, this is my first time ever posting on here, so it means a lot to me to even have the smallest response, so thank you for reading it <3

All was peaceful under the rule of Wilbur Soot. The damage from the war was repaired and new buildings were constructed, which were mostly built by Tubbo. The Prime Path was created, as well as the church of WAP. Tommy didn’t know what the meaning of the acronym actually was; he meant it to mean  _ worship and prayer _ , not the other thing. Wilbur even wrote a national  anthem:

_ *to the tune of Hallelujah* _

_ I heard there was a special place _

_ Where men can go and emancipate _

_ The brutality, and the tyranny of their rulers _

_ Well this place is real, you needn’t fret, with Wilbur, Tommy, Tubbo, Fuck Eret _

_ It’s a very big and not blown-up L’Manburg _

_ My L’Manburg _

_ My L’Manburg _

_ My L’Manburg _

New people joined their nation, one of them being Niki. It was clear that she and Wilbur had a special bond as he showed her around the new nation. Whether it was romantic or platonic, they were each other’s soulmates. They never failed to make each other laugh, and Tommy and Tubbo followed them around whenever they were together, repeatedly asking if they were dating.

While the war was over and their freedom and independence was granted, Tommy and Tubbo still had another battle they needed to face. They needed the discs back. After fighting for days on end, and confusing exchanges with counterfeits and fakes, the discs were finally out in the hands of their rightful owner. To celebrate, the two best friends climbed to a mountain and sat on a bench overlooking the sunset as the cheerful notes of Cat played next to them.

“We won,” Tubbo said in surprise.

“I won,” Tommy affirmed. “I won the war!”

“We won a war!”

“Yeah, I won a war!”

“No,  _ we _ won a war.”

“Ehhhh... Sure. Tubbo,  _ we  _ did it.”

“You know how we started this together, right?” Tubbo recalled fondly. “Y’know with the Discs war, then we followed Wilbur and started L’Manburg.”

Tommy smiled. “I remember.”

They sat for a while more, enjoying each other’s company. Little did they know, this would probably be the last time they would ever get to do this.

Tommy and Wilbur’s bond had grown even stronger after the war and Wilbur congratulated him for all his accomplishments.

“Tommy, I’m so fucking proud of you, bro. I need to say it. It’s fucking crazy, dude. All of your heroes, you’ve overtaken. It’s mental.” Wilbur pulled him in for a hug.

“What you’ve just said, it means a lot to me, Big Man.” 

The friends went on with their lives, having fun and laughing. One day Tubbo climbed into a cobblestone box, thinking it would be funny. It was funny, but then everyone refused to let him out. They gathered around him and threw carrots and made him dance for them. They called him Tubbox.

“Tubbo in a box! What will he do?” Wilbur joked. “Unbox him, he’s worthless!”

( _ This sounds weird writing this out but I promise it was fun while it was happening). _

Niki opened up her own bakery where Wilbur would often visit, and the smell of fresh bread filled the streets of L’Manburg. She was given a pet fox and named him Fungi, after Fundy, one of her closest friends. 

Eret sat alone in his castle, looking in on the new bustling nation from outside the walls.  _ It was meant to be _ . He regretted what he’d done. He began to think what would have happened if he hadn’t pressed the button; if he'd never accepted Dream’s deal in the first place. Would he still be so lonely? 

Wilbur looked at the nation he created with pride. This was all he ever wanted. His son was able to grow up safely and his friends were all happy. He sang songs on his guitar with Niki for his citizens who would all smile at him as he walked past. As time went on though, Wilbur watched as the smiles faded to frowns. He heard every whisper, every snarl, every snicker directed toward him. Tommy tried to convince him it was all in his head, but something felt off in Wilbur. He began to question if the people even wanted him in power. What would that make him if he didn’t? Wilbur looked at his sunken face and blood-shit eyes in the mirror.  _ I’m a dictator _ , he decided. He wasn’t democratically elected. He wondered if his father would be proud of him if he could see him. He didn’t think he would.Despite his friend’s protests, Wilbur decided to hold a presidential election. Little did he know, this would be the worst mistake of his life. 


	4. It Was at This Moment, Wilbur Knew He Fucked Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “No I need-- I need to watch this.” His eyes caught Fundy. “My son, my son is tearing down the walls in front of me! MY SON IS TEARING DOWN THE WALLS IN FRONT OF ME! The walls I built to keep him safe!” He looked down at his boots. “I promised him the world, Tommy.”
> 
> “I’m so sorry...”
> 
> Wilbur fell to his knees. “L’MANBURG MY UNFINISHED SYMPHONY!” a tear fell down his cheek. “My great unfinished symphony...”  
> Wilbur asked Tommy if he would join him in singing the national anthem one last time.

It was already a bad sign when Fundy, now all grown up, announced that he was running for president with Niki as his running mate. 

Wilbur declared Tommy his running mate and they called themselves Pog 2020. There was one more party named Swag 2020, with new L’Manburgian Quackity, and Dream’s friend, George. Dream, in another cruel joke, stole Tommy’s discs once more, telling him he would only return them if he and Wilbur won the election.

The candidates put their differences aside and bonded as they built the White House together, where one of them would soon reside in. 

Despite all that had gone wrong already, the election was running smoothly. That was until it was time for the final debate. George had overslept and missed the event, leaving Quackity all by himself. This was not all that went wrong though. Wilbur and Tommy excitedly announced their first sponsor, Vikstar, one of Tommy’s idols. Vik’s speech went well, and it was time to announce their next sponsor, Jschlatt.

Jschlatt, one of Wilbur’s oldest friends, had previously been banned from the server after an altercation with Dream, so everyone was shocked when he stepped into the podium. He was young, younger than Wilbur, but still acted old and senile. His fingertips were stained yellow from cigarettes and his breath reeked of booze, and he spoke in a heavy Brooklyn accent. He had long goat-like horns coming out of his head, but he was somehow able to fit a Yankee’s cap onto his head, which he wore almost every day even though it didn’t quite match his suit and tie. Schlatt was known to be a bit unpredictable, but Wilbur had faith that he would stick to his speech.

“Democracy is overrated,” he said into the mic. 

“Woah Woah wait hold on.” Wilbur looked around in confusion. That definitely wasn’t a part of the speech.

“Yeah, yeah that’s right,” Schlatt continued. “You think you need a president?” He looked at Wilbur and Tommy. “I’ll be my own president!”

“No, no!” Wilbur tried to laugh it off in front of the audience and drag Schlatt away from the podium but he was pushed away. “Cut the mic. Cut the mic!” He yelled.

Schlatt turned back to the audience and spread his arms out wide. “I’ll run myself!”

Wilbur and Tommy got him off the stage but the damage was already done, Schlatt’s name was put on the ballot. Even so, Wilbur didn’t think he had anything to worry about. No one would vote for Schlatt, he was an alcoholic, and everyone loves him as president... Right?

Everyone waited for the night of the election with anticipation and excitement. When the day had finally arrived, all the L’Manburgians rushed to the town square for the results. 

Wilbur, Tommy, and Tubbo waited beside the podium until it was time for them to speak. 

“Wilbur, I just wanted to let you know Tubbo built a huge underground tunnel, just in case, y’know, something goes wrong.”

Wilbur was grateful, but he laughed. There was no reason for it... right? “I’m getting stage fright, guys.”

“You’ll do great,” Tubbo reassured him.

Unbenounced to everybody, Dream sat on the walls of the nation with his feet dangling down, his mask moved to the side of his face. He watched intently, genuinely curious as to what was about to go down. Knowing L’Manburg, it would be chaotic.

Wilbur took a few deep breaths and walked onto the stage and looked down at the smiling faces in the crowd, which made him feel better, but then his eyes drifted to Schlatt leaning on the wall in the corner with a smug look on his face and his heart began to pound again. He cleared his throat. “My fellow L’Maburgians, thank you for coming here today to watch a historic moment: the passing over of the presidency for the first election of L’Manburg. I have with me the election results of the four parties, Swag 2020, Pog 2020, Coconut 2020, and Schlatt 2020.” he held up the book containing the results so everyone could see. “Without any further ado, I would like to announce the election results.

“With nine percent of the vote, 20,000 people or so, in fourth place, is Coconut 2020.”

Niki and Fundy jumped up excitedly. “20,000 is a lot of people!”

The crowd clapped for the losing party.

“The pity votes,” Quackity joked.

“With sixteen percent of the vote,” Wilbur continued, “coming in third place is Schlatt 2020.”

“Now that’s a surprise.” Said Eret sarcastically. Schlatt gave him a menacing look.

“That leaves two parties left.”

“Oh god,” Quackity muttered nervously.

“Come here Big Q,” Wilbur walked over to him, “Big Q look at me.”

“Hug me, Wilbur.”

Wilbur didn’t hug him. “This leaves two major front runners as the final option.” He took a deep breath. “In second place, with thirty percent of the popular vote...”

Everyone held their breath.

“... Is led by the party leader Quackity, Swag 2020...”

Tommy shot up from his seat on the stage. “We did it!!!” He exclaimed.

“... meaning that the winner of the popular vote by forty-five percent is Pog 2020, led by me and Tommyinnit.”

Tommy, Tubbo, and the audience cheered and applauded their new presidents.

“Listen, listen.” Wilbur wasn’t finished. “Please stop.”

“Wilbur, we won!” Tommy shouted excitedly.

“Yes we won, but listen, please stop celebrating.” Tommy continued cheering. “Calm down Tommy.”

“We did it, Wilbur!”

“I--” Wilbur sighed and looked down. “La--” He kept stumbling over his words. “Two nights ago, on the night the ballots opened, after the announcement of Schlatt 2020, and Coconut 2020, Quackity made a deal, with, um the leader of Schlatt 2020...”

Schlatt let out an evil laugh which echoed through the square

“... Uh Mr. Jschlatt stood right here stood behind me.” He motioned toward his old friend. “Quackity agreed that no matter what happens, he would pool Swag 2020 votes on with Schlatt 2020 votes...”

Schlatt let out another wicked laugh as Niki gasped from the audience.

“Pog 2020, got forty-five percent of the popular vote, meaning that the coalition government of Schlatt and Swag 2020 got forty-six percent of the vote!”

Confused murmurs spread through the crowd.

“Meaning that tonight, ladies and gentlemen, on Tuesday the twenty-second of September, 2020, Schlatt 2020 has been inaugurated!”

Schlatt let out his loudest laugh yet.

“What?!” Eret cried.

“Oh my god...” Niki was close to tears.

“Mr. Jschlatt,” Wilbur tried to act professionally in front of the crowd, but inside he was screaming, “by one percent of the vote, you have been crowned.” The maniacal laughter was still echoing through the land. “Mr. Jschlatt, it was an honor competing against you, please step up to the podium and deliver your inauguration speech.”

“Wha--” Tommy was in shock. “Wilbur, Wilbur are you sure? By one percent?”

“Tommy,” Schlatt said menacingly, “get off my podium.”

“Tommy we’re citizens tonight, just listen to Schlatt,” Said Wilbur as he stepped off the stage and took a seat in the audience as Niki gave him a nervous glance. After refusing to leave the stage for a few seconds, Schlatt pushed Tommy off, who then crawled over to a seat next to Wilbur.

Schlatt tapped the microphone to make sure it was working. “Well... that was pretty easy.” Quackity let out a harsh laugh. “And you know what I said, the day I got unbanned from the Dream SMP? I said things were gonna change. I looked every citizen of L’Manburg in the eyes and I said, ‘you listen to me, this place will be a lot different.’” A devilish grin swept across his face. “Let’s start making it happen.”

Tommy darted his eyes nervously from Schlatt to Wilbur, who had a bead of sweat trickling down his temple. “Wilbur I-- are you sure?” Wilbur said nothing, his eyes were laser-focused on the man on the podium. 

“My first decree, as the president of L’Manburg, the EMPEROR of this GREAT COUNTRY...”

“Wilbur, Wilbur surely not... Will, Will.”

“... IS TO  _ REVOKE  _ THE CITIZENSHIP, OF WILBUR SOOT AND TOMMYINNIT.”

Niki let out a harrowing cry.

Wilbur and Tommy looked around, confused. “Wait, wait what?!”

“Yes baby, yes!!!” Quackity exclaimed. 

“Get ‘em outta here!” Schlatt called in for his new guards to fire at the exiled men. “YOU’RE NO LONGER WELCOME!”

“Tommy run, Tommy run.” Wilbur grabbed his friend hurriedly as they dodged the arrows being fired at them. 

“Wilbur, drink, Wilbur.” Tommy quickly handed him an invisibility potion.

Schlatt’s laugh, more sadistic than ever, echoed through the land, as Wilbur and Tommy were shot dead. “Until further notice,” he said, “Wilbur Soot, and Tommyinnit will be merely a memory of L’Manburg. A relic. A reminder, of the  _ darkest  _ era this country, will ever see, and I guarantee you all, dear citizens, tonight, that changes. We are entering into a new period of L’Manburg. A period of  _ prosperity _ ! Of  _ strength _ ! Of unity...”

Dream gracefully jumped down from the walls before anyone could see him and slipped his mask back over his face. He chuckled. He wasn’t expecting that at all.

Tubbo quickly escorted the men to the tunnel he built as Schlatt continued his speech, and Wilbur sat in shock as he listened in. 

“Where’s Tubbo?” The new president asked.

“I’m right here...” 

“He’s scared.” Quackity snickered.

“Get up here! Get up here on my podium!”

“Uh...” Tubbo began walking slowly to the exit of the tunnel.

“You’re my new secretary of state!”

“Okay?” He had no idea what to do. “I’m the secretary of State? I wasn’t sure I would get to keep my old job.”

“Well, I wouldn’t fire you!” Schlatt feigned enthusiasm. “You’re Tubbo!” He chuckled. “Tubbo, get up here.” His tone had changed drastically into a stern one. “ _ Now. _ ”

“I-- okay I’m on my way, I’m on my way.”

“I don’t think he wants the job.” Joked the new vice president.

“I do want the job!”

Tommy grabbed his friend’s hand before he could exit the tunnel. “You want the job?” his voice cracked.

“I need to- I’m on my way.” Tubbo was left at a crossroads, but he chose to walk over the podium, leaving Tommy draped over his knees, heartbroken.

Schlatt feigned enthusiasm once more as Tubbo tentatively stepped onto the stage. “Tubboooo! Ugh, I love this guy.”

Eret was shocked. He didn’t know the young, innocent Tubbo was capable of making the same mistake he had.

“Tubbo, as my secretary of state, as my  _ right-hand-man _ , of L’Manburg, I need you to do something for me Tubbo.”

“What Mr. President?” He tried to hide the terror in his voice, but he wasn’t successful.

Wilbur and Tommy managed to sneak back into L’Manburg and climb onto a tower overlooking the square.

“I need you to find Tommy... And I need you to show him the door.” The crowd sat in a scared silence. “Rumor has it, he’s somewhere around.” Wilbur and Tommy felt their whole bodies tense. “Perhaps on top of a building.” Schlatt turned and made direct eye contact with the men on the tower. They quickly scattered and ran. 

It didn’t take long for Tubbo to find Tommy hiding out on the outskirts of the border of the nation.

“Tommy...”

“No Tubbo, Tubbo no!!!”

“Tommy, just come to the podium, man.”

Tommy was able to escape with little resistance from Tubbo since he didn’t actually want to hurt him. He found Wilbur and they ran. 

While they were running, they encountered Eret. It seemed like anytime they were in a stressful situation Eret was always there with his smug smile and good manners.

“Gentlemen, I believe I can provide you sanctuary.”

“Eret, how fucking dare you!” Tommy shoved the traitor. 

“Eret, I am not going with you,” Wilbur said.

“You have been betrayed! I can help you!”

“We know we’ve been fucking betrayed! Get the  _ fuck  _ out of here Eret!”

The King looked down and sighed “I understand.” Eret walked away. He understood why they were angry. He would be too, but he wanted people to fill his cold, lonely castle. 

Unwilling to join Eret, the men were no longer welcome in the Dream SMP land, nor L’Manburg. They were left to fend for themselves in the cold, dark wilderness. 

They built a depressing base in an underground ravine where that sat, processing what had just happened. They ditched their revolutionary suits, Tommy putting back on his usual beat up t-shirt and jeans, and Wilbur his black beanie and long brown trench coat, stained with dirt and blood from his previous battles.

“Tommy we have nothing. We literally are in the wilderness. We have nothing. We gave up literally everything for L’Manburg. We gave up friendships, alliances with powerful people, and everything we earnt with those sacrifices have been lost in one moment.”

“I gave up my discs for that nation!” He stood up and looked around at the cave walls. “THIS IS IT? THIS IS L’MANBURG? WHAT THE FUCK? WHAT THE HELL? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?”

“You’re the one that got Schlatt back on this server!” Wilbur yelled.

“Are you kidding me?! You’re the one who called the election!”

“I called the election to consolidate power!”

“No Wilbur, you called this election to show off your own power because you were so sure you would win! Now, look at us!”

They both took a few deep breaths to calm down. 

“Look, let’s turn on each other Wilbur. We can’t turn on each other. Not now, okay? We’ve lost Tubbo, we’ve lost everyone... Niki, your son!” 

Wilbur felt a pain in his chest when he heard Niki’s name. 

Their conversation was interrupted by a message saying that Schlatt was about to make another speech. They decided to listen in but to stay low. 

“PEOPLE OF L’MANBURG!” said Schlatt in an overcompensated, almost comical tone. “The sun rises,” he continued in his normal voice, “over another beautiful day in our country, the next page of our textbook. I reckon this country needs to expand! I reckon we take down, the walls.”

Eret and Niki both gasped in horror. “You can’t do that!” 

“Effective immediately, all citizens of L’Manburg, are required,  _ required,  _ to help tear down the walls of this country!”

“You have no right to do that Schlatt!” Niki cried. She was left alone in the nation, with the promise that Wilbur would come for her soon and that she needed to hang in tight, and so she did. She didn’t subject to Schlatt’s rule though, she fought back in every way she could. 

“Let’s get to work.”

The exiled men quickly ran over to watch the people of L’Manburg tear down the walls with their pickaxes. They looked like little ants on an ant farm. 

“Oh my god...”

“Look away, Wilbur.”

“No I need-- I need to watch this.” His eyes caught Fundy. “My son, my son is tearing down the walls in front of me! MY  _ SON  _ IS  _ TEARING  _ DOWN THE WALLS IN FRONT OF ME! The walls I built to keep him safe!” He looked down at his boots. “I promised him the world, Tommy.”

“I’m so sorry...”

Wilbur fell to his knees. “L’MANBURG MY UNFINISHED SYMPHONY!” a tear fell down his cheek. “My great unfinished symphony...”

Wilbur asked Tommy if he would join him in singing the national anthem one last time.

“Wilbur, I don’t think we can do this,” Tommy said when they were done.

“Do what?”

“Leave!”

“Tommy, we have to.”

“Wilbur, we have a life here!”

“Tommy,” Wilbur said sternly, “we have no choice! This isn’t something we can debate!”

The men made their way back to their new home, the rain pouring down on them and lightning striking in the distance. Something changed deep down in Wilbur that night. He’d never been the most stable person, but after what he just went through, he’d officially snapped. The spark that was once in him was gone. He was merely a fragment of the man he once was. He was determined to make Schlatt pay for what he had done, and he was willing to do whatever it took. It didn’t matter to him how many people he hurt in the process, not even the people he loved. 


	5. I Have the Blade

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Technoblade teams up with the Tommy and Wilbur to help them build their new underground base after being exiled.

Many changes were made in L’Manburg under Schlatt’s rule. First, of course, was the tearing down of the walls. Second, the name  _ L’Manburg _ was changed to simply become  _ Manburg  _ to make it sound less European and more American _. _ Fundy, Wilbur’s only son, burnt down the flag and replaced it with a new one made of obsidian and magma cubes. The reflection of the flames flickered in his eyes as Niki and Eret watched in horror. Tubbo was forced to work as the Secretary of State, and serve Schlatt as his right-hand-man. He was forced to ditch the old revolutionary suit and instead wore a new, freshly tailored black suit and red tie to match Schlatt’s. Tubbo didn’t give up on his friends though. He worked under Schlatt’s watch but snuck out whenever he could to help Wilbur and Tommy. He spied on the president and wrote all his findings in books, including all of Schlatt’s weaknesses, which he intended on sharing with them. 

Niki, abandoned, was left to fend for herself under Schlatt’s oppressive rule. After refusing to pay the absurdly high taxes only she was subject to, she was tortured and imprisoned. She stopped waiting around for Wilbur to show up and save her and realized she wouldn’t get anywhere by being nice anymore, so she teamed up with Eret to fight against Fundy, who not only betrayed his father but his best friends.

“I trusted you, Fundy! I ran for president with you and you betrayed me! How could you?!” She jammed her finger into the fox’s chest. “You know what this means. You fucked up.”

It was hard for Fundy to take her seriously. She was a petite girl with a soft and high-pitched voice with a German accent. Fundy was angry. He didn’t care what Schlatt wanted to do, he just wanted to get back at his father.

The people of Manburg missed Wilbur and Tommy. They loved them; they’d always loved them, but Wilbur’s paranoia got the best of him.

As Tommy set up a campfire in the ravine, Wilbur called for their older brother, Technoblade for help. Techno was a tall man with a deep, monotone voice. His hair used to be brown like his brother’s, but once when they were kids their father let him dye it pink and he’d kept it that way ever since; it’d grown significantly longer than the last time Wilbur had seen him. Instead of reaching his shoulders, it was now in a long braid that went all the way to his lower back. Just as Wilbur remembered, he still wore his crown and a royal gown, the same from when they were teenagers. Most peculiarly though, he was always seen wearing a pig mask, only ever showing his face to his closest friends or the closest things he had to them. He had a reputation for being a violent and sadistic anarchist, and he lived up to it. He joined the server with one intention and one intention only: to help Wilbur and Tommy overthrow the government. He was the only person to ever defeat Dream in a battle. Knowing this, Dream began to question his alliance. He decided he would help the exiled men. Not because he wanted them to be in power again, but because he didn’t want Schlatt to be. He gave Tommy netherite armor, and his favorite overpowered crossbow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the short chapter. I will post the next one soon and it will be longer.


	6. The One Where the Protagonist Turns Out to be a Dumbass

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A terrifying grin swept across Wilbur’s face. “Then let’s be the bad guys.”
> 
> Tommy backed away. “What?”
> 
> “Tommy, why not? Why not?! Tommy, our nation’s gone; our nation’s far behind us.” He let out a cold chuckle. “Let’s blow that motherfucker to smithereens.” Tommy had no idea what to say. “Let’s blow the whole thing up!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to say thank you once again for reading this. This started as a way to get my friends who weren't into the Dream SMP more interested, and it turned into so much more than that. I've literally spent the past month and a half writing this, and it genuinely means a lot to me that people find joy in reading this.

Tommy watched as Wilbur hacked away at the stone in the ravine they were banished to with his pickaxe. As the clanging rang in his ears, he couldn’t help but think back to the times he walked in on Wilbur punching holes in the walls and window panes when they were growing up. Their father always told him to stay away from his brother when he got like that, but in the close quarters of the cave, it was nearly impossible. The look on his face was different this time. He looked like he was planning something; something bad. 

Schlatt treated Tubbo well. He gave him the power and authority Wilbur never did. He was being treated like an adult for the first time in his life. Tubbo tried to reassure Wilbur as much as possible that he was loyal to Pogtopia’s cause, and he was, but Wilbur still kept his walls up. Tommy told his best friend not to be too upset; that Wilbur was hurting and he just needed time, but not even he believed it as he said it. 

Tensions grew within Pogtopia as the men struggled to live in the small and cold, decrepit ravine. Gone were their cushy homes and warm beds. They had to learn to defend themselves from the constant mob attacks and to navigate through the rough terrain.

There was one day in particular where Tommy stole all of Wilbur’s diamonds and turned them into blocks, scattering them around the ravine, saying he was decorating. Wilbur, annoyed, scolded his sibling. 

“You can’t boss me around now, dickhead,” Tommy spat.

“What do you mean I can’t boss you around? Pogtopia doesn’t need diamond blocks on the walls.” Wilbur felt his blood pressure begin to rise.

“Yes it does!” Tommy whined.

Wilbur turned to Techno, who was making them a large potato farm. “Can we just pretend Tommy isn’t here?”

“God, I hate you,” Tommy continued putting down the diamond blocks. “I am a good goddamn decorator.”

Wilbur thought for a moment, then reached for his bow and took a shot at Tommy. He slowly turned his head to make eye contact with his brother. He was wearing armor, so it didn’t hurt, but Tommy was still fuming.

“You’re gonna regret that,” he said.

Wilbur smirked and took another shot. Tommy charged and they began fighting and bickering like children around the cave. Techno’s eyes followed them, but he didn’t care enough to intervene. He just put on some headphones, blasted Abba, and continued farming.

The brothers eventually stopped fighting, and Tommy made himself a little room where he could decorate all he wanted. As Tubbo, Techno, and Wilbur were discussing the rebellion when they suddenly heard Tommy yell for help. They ran over to see what happened, but were met with Tommy trapped beneath two pistons. 

“Fuck! Wilbur, help! Wilbur!” The men couldn’t help but laugh at his predicament as Tommy continued to yell.

“Wilbur, I actually need your help! I don’t know how I’ve done this!”

They continued to laugh, but they eventually helped Tommy out, who then returned the diamonds to Wilbur. 

Weeks passed with little progress made by the Pogtopians, and Niki and Eret still struggled under the oppressive rule of Schlatt. 

One day Tommy decided it would be a good idea to connect the Prime Path in Manburg to one he would create in Pogtopia. The Prime Path was a sacred path they would often walk over to secure their Prime Subs. ( _ By the way, did I mention that if your Amazon Prime account is linked with your Twitch account you could get a free sub!? That's like free money! I’m sorry, I had to _ ). In doing this, Tommy had unknowingly created a path straight from Pogtopia to Manburg. When Wilbur and Tubbo saw what he did, they tried to block off the entrances as quickly as possible and create dead ends to confuse Quackity, who had just found the tunnel while walking around his nation. 

“Tommy, what is this?” the vice president asked when he encountered the boy in the maze of tunnels.

“It’s the Prime Path!” Tubbo quickly butted in. They were divided by one of the walls Wilbur and Tubbo built to keep Quackity out.

Tommy, confused, looked around and broke down the wall. “Why are you in my tunnel?”

“It’s not yours.”

“Tommy, can you fill in the wall please?” Wilbur frantically pointed to the gap. “Tommy, fill in the gap!” Tommy stood for a second, still confused, and filled in the wall, only to tear it down again. “TOMMY!”

“Alright fiinneee.” he filled in the wall yet again. “You made me cut off my prime path!”

“Oh my god, you child.” Wilbur slapped his forehead. “You’ve become insufferably unlikeable recently, Tommy.”

“Yeah, well I’m doing it on purpose. Because I’ve realized how much bossing around you’ve done to me, and how clever I am.” Tommy was only half-joking, but Wilbur was dead serious.

“Okay fine. Come on Tubbo, let him have his way.” He took the spy’s arm and they began walking back to Pogtopia, but he turned back. “Tommy?”

“Yeah?”

“Schlatt is having a decree soon.”

“What does that mean then?”

“I don’t know, Tommy! I don’t know what it means, but I don’t want you there.”

“What!? Woah Woah Woah, c’mon Wilbur.” Tommy stepped toward Wilbur and Tubbo.

“You’ve proven to be too much of a loose cannon.” 

The men started babbling unintelligibly over each other. “Look Tommy,” Wilbur tried to say but Tommy wouldn’t shut up. “There is a reason... “ He continued to try to speak over the child. “There is a reason...” 

“Wilbur, c’mon man!”

“There is a reason why you are not the president, and never will be.” Everyone went silent when Wilbur said that last phrase. Tubbo sucked his breath in sharply and Tommy ran away angrily. 

Quackity laughed. They had all forgotten he was there. “Do I smell internal conflict in the party?”

“No, there is no internal conflict,” Wilbur snapped back. “Now go back to being the most pointless vice president in history, Quackity. What do you even do? You sit there and watch the president shit on our nation, that’s what you do.”

Quackity laughed again. “You want me to do something of value, Wilbur?”

“I do.” He responded smugly.

“Well if I do then I’d tell the president about this little tunnel you and Tommy built.”

“No, I built it Big Q.” Tubbo came in to save the day.  
“You what?” Quackity and Wilbur both asked at the same time. 

“Yeah, I built it so we could get around faster, we can travel by horses now, it’s like a railroad!”

“You created a railroad under Manburg that goes straight to Pogtopia?! Why are there so many dead ends?”

“It doesn’t go to Pogtopia, Big Q, and it’s to uh... to confuse the mobs.” Quackity was still suspicious. Wilbur and Tubbo quickly blocked off the entrance to Pogtopia again while he wasn’t looking.

“So let me get this straight, you built this under no presidential supervision?”

“Schlatt knows it’s here.”

“Schlatt knows!?”

“Yeah!” Tubbo was surprisingly good at lying.

“Oh, well that’s great then!” Quackity was satisfied with this answer and didn’t try to pry any further. 

Schlatt had woken up that afternoon with big plans for Manburg. He called for Tubbo, who quickly stumbled from Pogtopia to his office and changed into his suit. He and Fundy helped Schlatt prepare for the speech he was about to make at the town square.

Wilbur snuck to the top of the same tower he was on the day he was exiled so he could listen in. Wilbur was greeted by Tommy when he got there, who had a bow and arrow in his hand. They stood next to each other and looked over the edge, where they could see Schlatt and Tubbo walk onto the stage. It hurt both Wilbur and Tommy to see them in their matching suits. 

“Hello, everyone,” Schlatt said in his booming voice. “Y’know, I woke up on the right side of the bed this afternoon, and I told myself I was gonna do something that people will remember, and something people will appreciate.” Tommy and Wilbur glance at each other nervously. “I’m here to announce a festival, everyone! A Manburg festival.” The crowd clapped, except for Niki and Eret of course. “It’s gonna be a celebration of democracy. The very democracy, that put me in power; that evicted the -- and I don’t mean this lightly -- the dictator! The dictator, that was here before me! The democracy that let Manburg live up to its fullest potential. I say we invite everyone! Except those two who shall not be named...” Wilbur rolled his eyes and his shoulders slumped. “... and we enjoy Manburg’s independence...”

As Schlatt continued on, Tommy took aim at him. 

“... I really just want to drive home the idea, that this celebration, will be about Manburg. A celebration of democracy, law, and of the new era of peace, that has been brought forth by my administration.”

All Tommy had to do was fire, and Schlatt would be dead. All their problems would be solved. He turned to Wilbur, who shook his head at him. Tommy shrugged and lowered his weapon.

Once the speech was over, they left Manburg for Schlatt and Tubbo to be praised and walked back to Pogtopia. Wilbur began to think about who was in the right in this. He tried for so long to pretend like everything was okay, that everything would go back to normal soon, but his warm hope diminished as the days went on, and was replaced by a cold, empty feeling within him.

“Wilbur I could’ve taken my shot.”

Wilbur shook his head. “Killing Schlatt wouldn’t do anything. That would not fix a single issue.” He began to think some more. What if the people were happier under Schlatt’s rule? What if Schlatt was right? What if he was a dictator? The festival seemed like a nice thing Schlatt was doing. Maybe Schlatt was a good leader, and he, Tommy, and Techno were just coming in to ruin that. “Tommy are we the bad guys?” he asked at last. 

Tommy froze.

“Schlatt won, under a coalition government, which we said was legal, and now we’re trying to overthrow him-- it feels like we’re the bad guys, Tommy. Tommy, this doesn’t feel correct.” He paused for a second. “Tommy, am I a villain in this story? Am I the villain in this history?”

“No,” Tommy said definitively. 

“Why not?”

“Because...” his voice trailed off. “Because we started L’Manburg, and... we should’ve won that election.”

“But the people didn’t think so. Tommy, we let our cockiness and our arrogance get in the way, thinking that even under a coalition government Schlatt and Quackity would still lose. Tommy, I think we’re the bad guys.” He sighed. “Tommy, I want to say something to you.” He looked down at his friend. “Okay, Tommy, you and me, we both agree we’re right. We’re in the right here.”

“Yeah.” Tommy shrugged. “I mean I’m always in the right, so.”

A terrifying grin swept across Wilbur’s face. “Then let’s be the bad guys.”

Tommy backed away. “What?”

“Tommy, why not? Why not?! Tommy, our nation’s gone; our nation’s far behind us.” He let out a cold chuckle. “Let’s blow that motherfucker to smithereens.” Tommy had no idea what to say. “Let’s blow the whole thing up!”

“Wilbur what are you saying?”

“Tommy, I say, if we can’t have Manburg, no one,” he punched the walls of the cave till cracks formed and the ground began to rumble under them. “NO ONE can have Manburg!” 

“No, Wilbur, I think... I think we can still do this. I think we can still take it back.”

Tommy tried to speak over Wilbur but he wasn’t listening; he was too carried away in his own theatricals. “Tommy I say, this is a new era. We burn the place to the  _ fucking  _ ground- I want no crops to grow there ever again. I want it all gone!”

“Wilbur...” Tommy knew Wilbur could be scary at times, but he had never seen this side of him.

“Tommy, let’s be villains” He stood waiting for an answer.

“Will, I need- I need to think.”

“Think about what, Tommy? You’ve had days, you’ve had weeks, you’ve had months to think.”

“You’re just not thinking straight,” Tommy said before he turned to leave. 

Wilbur paced around the ravine. “ I wanna burn down the entire  _ fucking _ place to kingdom come.” He said to himself. “I want no survivors!” His voice echoed. “God help whoever’s caught in the fucking crossfire! Everyone’s always saying ‘oh it’s crazy how everyone’s against Schlatt!’ No one’s against Schlatt. Everyone’s pulling the biggest ruse on us! They’ve got us by the fucking scruffs of our necks! Tubbo’s like, ‘I’ll be your spy!’' He mimicked Tubbo’s voice. “It’s bullshit. It’s all bullshit!”

“Wilbur?” Tommy stepped into the cave cautiously. “It’s not too far gone. There’s a reason I gave up my discs, alright. It isn’t too far gone! We can restore it! We  _ can _ build it back to its former glory. You don't have to just decide it’s over now. You’re being reckless, Wilbur. You’re being reckless.”

Wilbur shook his head. “What’s the point, Tommy?” he asked softly. “What’s the point of building it all from scratch? Do you know how much blood was shed to get L’Manburg to the point it was at? If we managed to get L’Manburg back again,  _ more  _ blood would be shed, and we would be the  _ illegitimate  _ rulers of a nation. The only reason Dream is working with us is because we’re the enemies of his enemies!”

“Wilbur, Wilbur, the reason we went through all the bloodshed was that we  _ needed  _ L’Manburg, and if there is no L’Manburg, what’s the point?” Tommy tried his best to get through to his brother, but it was clear that Wilbur was already too far gone. 

Wilbur laughed. It was a laugh that sent a shiver down Tommy’s spine. “I know why you’re doing this, Tommy,” He smiled as he began marching toward the child. “I know, I see it in your eyes. I can hear it in your voice.” He was now so close Tommy could feel his breath on his face. “Tommyinnit, you’re scared. You’re scared that people will think differently of you. Tommy when I said you’re never gonna president, you gotta understand, that wasn’t a challenge. That’s true.” He leaned and whispered in his ear in an unnervingly calm voice, “You’re never gonna be president.” Tommy went stiff and Wilbur leaned away. “And I can hear it in your voice, you’re trying to sound like you know what you’re doing so that you can prove me wrong.” He leaned back in, “Tommy, none of us know what we’re doing. We’re fucked. We were fucked the minute we were thrown out. Schlatt’s a smart man, he knows that even if we beat him, we’ve lost. Tommy, there’s no in-between, he knows we’ve lost. But you know what? In a time like this, when a man has nothing to lose, do you know what that means?”

“What does it mean?”

“It means we can do what we want.” He laughed excitedly. “We have a man on our side that literally rigged our nation with TNT! We can do the same to Schlatt. We can rig the festival with TNT, Tommy! We can kill them all-”

“No, no-” Tommy protested.

“Tommy, have you noticed, everyone who claims they’re on our side, they’re lying to us! Tubbo? He’s lying to you, man!”

“Wilbur no-”

“He would drop us at the  _ second  _ he realizes we can’t win!” 

“Stop it!” Tommy slapped Wilbur right across the face. Instead of being mad or fighting back, Wilbur just stood and laughed quietly to himself as blood trickled from his nose and onto the ground. “Wilbur, you’re being reckless. You’re not being the man that came in as president. This isn’t the right thing to do! This isn’t the  _ moral  _ thing! What’s the point of doing anything if you've lost all hope? You’ve gotta stay with it, man. You’ve gotta pull yourself together.” 

Wilbur looked down and continued laughing. 

“Look, if you think that rigging Manburg with TNT,  _ not lighting it _ , but rigging it will give us the upper hand, then I’ll follow you.”

“Listen, rigging Manburg isn’t gonna help us get it back, I’m aware of that,” Wilbur looked like he was finally calming down; like some rational thought was coming to him. “but sometimes in order to feel comfortable and safe you have to be ready to give up the things you’re worried you might lose.”

“You’re being insane!”

“I’m thinking-” 

“You’re saying everyone’s against us, that’s not true!” 

Tommy knew that he wouldn’t be able to get through to Wilbur no matter what he did, but he still had hope that he would one day soon return to the Wilbur he once knew; the Wilbur that started a nation for the safety of his son and his friends; where men could go and emancipate the brutality and the tyranny of their rulers. 

Tubbo walked into the cave, unaware of the manic state Wilbur had just found himself in. 

“Tubbo, what did Schlatt say when we left?” Wilbur asked urgently.

“Well, he got very drunk, he then fell off the stage and proceeded to drive,” Tubbo said in an unsuitably enthusiastic tone. He tried to never take things too seriously; he always tried to find the good in every situation.

Wilbur made steeple hands and rested them on his chin. “Mhm. What are you doing in the festival?” 

“Oh uh, I think I’m in charge of the games and stuff. I’m gonna do some decorating. It’s gonna be fun!”

“Is that all you’re doing?”

“Oh yeah! No, I also have a speech!”

“You’re giving a speech?” Wilbur’s voice sounded like it was about to break into a yell. “On Manburg, and democracy?”

“I am! It’s gonna be exciting!” He smiled brightly.

“Cool. That’s not something a traitor would do is it?” Wilbur’s eyes narrowed. 

“What do you mean?”

Wilbur laughed once more, his voice was raspy from yelling. “I was just wondering ’cause writing a speech is such a heartfelt task.”

Before Tubbo could answer Schlatt, Quackity and Fundy unexpectedly butted in. 

“Hey, Tubbo!” Schlatt interjected. “While I was talking up on my podium, I saw you running around, and uh, we looked around for you, and um, oh my God, you weren’t there.” 

The men in the cave tensed. They could hear the president’s voice echoing through the tunnels. This was the second time Tubbo had been questioned on his whereabouts while spying. 

“Y’know, we searched every nook and cranny, and hold on, it gets worse because we found a bunch of books. So I mean, if you’d like to explain what those are all about. Also, would you like to explain where you are?”

“Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck.” Wilbur murmured to himself as he tried to find a way to hide Tubbo.

“Forgive me for caring so much,” Schlatt continued, “but you’re my right-hand-man. I like to pay attention to what you’re doing. I like to see the progress you’ve made.” 

“Honestly, I feel so incredibly lucky and honored.” Tubbo tried his best to save himself before Schlatt found the entrance to Pogtopia.

“So where are you?” Schlatt started to sound annoyed. 

“I’m in the tunnel, just go all the way to the end.”

“I thought it was a dead end.” Quackity butted in. 

“Oh, so there is something past there!”

Wilbur crouched around the tunnel to make sure the three men weren’t near and Tommy snuck out to Manburg to try and make a distraction so the men would leave Tubbo alone.

“No, I’m just making it longer in order to get to my destination.” 

Schlatt was growing more and more suspicious. “Well, where are you headed then? Can I join you?”

“I’m going to an um...” Tubbo tried to find a lie as fast as possible. “I’m going to a watchtower to get you totems of undying.”

“Tubbo, you’ve made this entirely for me?” the president was touched. “Oh my god, this is why I love this kid.”

Tommy and Wilbur both let out sighs of relief. 

“You know Tubbo, seeing this is really making me tear up.” he sniffled. “I just feel like I can finally trust someone y’know?"

Tubbo giggled. “Aw, thank you.”

“Tubbo, I want to pass off some of my responsibility to you. You deserve it. I want you to organize the festival.”  
“Schlatt, that would be an honor!”

“You’re gloating.” Wilbur proclaimed. “You’re rubbing this in!”

“Wilbur it’s okay.” Tommy tried to calm him down before he could have another breakdown. “Hey everyone!” He announced after a pause. “Listen to me right now, I have an announcement. If you don’t head back to Manburg right now, I’m going to destroy this statue of Pokimane!”

Schlatt scoffed. He really didn’t care about that statue. “I really can’t take anyone with a British accent seriously, I’m sorry. Hey, let’s get out of here boys.” He rounded up Quackity and Fundy and they began walking back home. They’d successfully deterred them from investigating anymore.

When Wilbur stepped out of their base, he saw Dream standing there with his mysterious presence. 

“Hello Dream.”

“Hello.”

“Have you heard that Schlatt is having a festival?”

“I have been busy all day so no, I have not heard.” His mask smiled at Wilbur.

“Schlatt is having a festival to uh, to celebrate democracy- and it got me thinking-” 

Dream blew raspberries.

“You laugh but, he’s kind of right.” He shrugged. “Anyway, Dream, it got me thinking. How much would you say that me and Tommy are kind of the bad guys here?”

Dream was taken aback. “I don’t think you’re the bad guys.”

“We fought against people, we killed people to get leadership,” he counted on his fingers as he spoke. “We didn’t really do much in our leadership, and then when we were voted out we’re now trying to fight our way back in.” His pitch heightened. “It feels like we might be the bad guys.”

The masked man had no idea what to say. “I think that... sometimes,” he struggled to string his words together. “Sometimes a ruler... is unfit.”

Wilbur shook his head. “Dream, you just have vested interest. I think that you would  _ enjoy  _ there to be a conflict between Manburg and Pogtopia, and I’m here to facilitate that!” Wilbur looked over to see Tommy walking toward them. “Dream, let me be your vassal!” Tommy went white. “Dream, I hear you have a lot of TNT! A lot of the ’ol  trinitrotoluene in your possession, don’t you?”

“I do.” 

“I want to set this up! I want to rig the city!”

“I’m in.”

“No, Dream. Dream don’t give it to him.” Tommy blurted.

“I have to.”

“Dream I appreciate-” Wilbur turned toward the child and spoke almost too quickly to be understood. “Tommy, Tommy, Tommy, what you don’t seem to understand is that Dream doesn’t want us to win, he just wants both Pogtopia and Manburg to be weak! That’s it! And Dream, I’m not scolding you on this, that’s smart, you’re a smart man. I’m here to help you! I’m here to weaken both of us, so much! Manburg and Pogtopia will be, nothing more.”

Dream shook his head. “I do want Manburg and Pogtopia to be no more, and I want L'Manburg to be something.”

“Why do you want L’Manburg, Dream?” Tommy asked. “You’re the reason we had to make L’Manburg in the first place.”

“Schlatt is ambitious, and that’s a bad thing.” He answered. “He wants power, he wants land, he wants to expand-- you guys having your own little country where you just frolic around in the flowers, that’s fine by me.”

“Well, it wasn’t fine by me when we had our war, Dream. When you killed me during our duel.”

“Well, I had a change of heart.”

Wilbur laughed maniacally. “Dream this has made me ambitious! Dream, if I am taking power again I will be ambitious! Let me blow it up! Let me destroy it all!”

“Wilbur, Wilbur no. This isn’t right,” 

Wilbur snickered. “Tommy you were never in charge. Tommy, you were never in charge of the situation.” 

Dream quickly ran to his base and when he returned, he handed Wilbur stacks of TNT, which he took and ran to hide.

Tommy chased after him. “Wilbur! Wilbur look at me!”

Wilbur turned around after putting the TNT in his ender chest so Tommy wouldn’t be able to get it. He pointed his bow and arrow at him. “Wilbur, hand me the TNT.”

“Tommy, I’ll have to step in.” He stepped in front of Wilbur and shielded him with his diamond sword. 

Wilbur jumped. “YEAH DADDY DREAM!” 

Dream glanced at Wilbur. He couldn’t see his facial expression, but he knew he was weirded out. 

“This just isn’t right. I’m not going to betray you, Wilbur, and I’m not going to fight you, but this isn’t the right way to go about this. You know this as well, Dream. We can build back L’Manburg! It can be what it once was. Blowing it up won’t solve anything. It’s only going to waste time, which is something we don’t have.”

The crazed man chuckled, his eyes glimmered with a dangerous spark. “That was cute, Tommy. I liked your buzz words, but even you know none of what you’re saying really matters.” He looked at Dream, “Thank you very much. I promise I will do you proud, I will rig it up, I will detonate it.”

“If you need any help, you know where to find me.”

“Oh! Dream, at the festival, when Tubbo starts giving his speech, you might wanna leave.” 

The three men departed. Wilbur figured Tommy would change his mind eventually, and for the first time since getting thrown out of L’Manburg, he was happy, he was happy with what he had in store. 

Tommy took a few minutes to process what just happened.  _ This can’t be how it ends _ , he thought. He didn’t care what Wilbur said, he didn’t sacrifice everything just to throw it all away. He knew Wilbur was fucking crazy, but he still wanted to stick with him somehow. 

Tommy ran to go find Tubbo to take him to the bench they reminisced on after winning their independence. The night sky was already dark, and they had no music discs to play. 

“Tubbo...”

“What’s going on?”

“Sit down, man.”

“Okay...” Tubbo sat next to his friend.

“Tubbo, Wilbur’s lost it.”

“What makes you say that?”

Tommy looked up and sighed. “Tubbo, I can’t tell you, but the festival is not gonna be a good day. He wants to get rid of L’Manburg, and I don’t want that, and I don’t think you want that either.”

“Why would he do that? The festival’s gonna be great.”

“Because he’s lost his  _ fucking  _ mind, Tubbo. He wants you blown up, alright? He thinks it’s too far gone.”

“But it’s not too far gone...” his face was red and his voice started breaking. “We have the upper hand.”

“I know we do! I know we do, but Wilbur’s...” he shook his head. “Wilbur’s not the man he used to be.”

Tubbo inched away. “How do I know you’re not just saying this?”

“Know that whatever happens, we have to trust each other, alright? ‘Cause I don’t know what’s happening, man! Do you understand?”

“Yeah...” 

“Tubbo, we could just run away from here. We could have everything we’ve ever wanted.”

“Everything we’ve ever cared about,” Tubbo continued.

Tommy imagined him and his friend running with their backs to the nation. It was extremely tempting, but Tommy shook the idea out of his head. “No,” he said. “We’re here for L’Manburg. We’re not giving up now. Tread lightly Tubbo, and don’t trust  _ anyone. _ We can only trust each other, not even Wilbur. He might snap out of it, but right now, he wants to make the festival the worst day of our lives.”

“It’s gonna be great!”

“Tubbo, no, it’s not gonna be great.”

“Are you sure?”

“I am so, so sure, and Tubbo, Wilbur might have lost his fucking mind, but don’t give up on him, and don’t give up on me.”


	7. Subscribe to Technoblade

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Schlatt started laughing ominously.
> 
> “What’s wrong, Schlatt?” Tubbo turned to face the president. 
> 
> “Nothing. I was just- I was just thinking about it, Tubbo. Y’know how we like to have fun around here?”
> 
> “Yeah, we like to have fun. What-”
> 
> “Is there anything left in the speech, Big T?”
> 
> “No um, let the festival begin!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: death and violence  
> (I'm not shipping Niki and Wilbur in this, I just really like their dynamic and wanted to do something with it)

Manburg was bustling the days leading up to the festival. Festivities were planned and decorations would put up. Everyone, even Technoblade, was invited, except for Wilbur and Tommy of course. Just because they weren’t invited doesn’t mean they wouldn’t attend though. Wilbur had a plan to blow it up, and Tommy had a plan to stop him. As soon as Tubbo was done with his speech, Wilbur would run under the podium, where there lied a room with a button that would detonate the TNT under Manburg. 

It was the night of the festival, and Wilbur was so ready to put an end to all of it, but at the same time, he felt like he was missing something. He also knew that Tommy thought he was insane. 

“I’m not insane.” He mumbled to himself as he rode on horseback to Manburg, just as Tommy, wearing the full netherite armor Dream had given him, caught up to him. 

“Hey, Will...”

“I’m not insane, Tommy.” He looked at the child. “I’m going to make one last plea to you, and I want you to listen carefully. Manburg is being detonated tonight, whether or not you’re on my side. We’ve been through so much together, man. Don’t drop this all over your weird ideas of patriotism and heroism, this isn’t a thing of heroism, Tommy, this is a thing of victory.”

Tommy stopped in his tracks and the color stripped from his face. “You’ve already laid the TNT...?”

“Look, Tommy, at the end of the day it doesn’t really matter what-”

“Wilbur, I’m with you.”

Wilbur looked up and clapped. “Here’s the plan! When Tubbo is up on that stage, and he's giving his speech, he’s gonna say,  _ now let the festival begin _ , and on that phrase, he’s gonna run the fuck away, I’m gonna jump down, and I’m gonna slam that button!” In reality, Wilbur truly didn’t care if Tubbo made it out alive or not, but Tommy didn’t know this.

“So-so Tubbo’s with us, this is what he wants. Because I don’t want to do anything Tubbo wouldn’t want.”

“Tubbo was totally with me when I explained the plan to him.” Wilbur got off his horse when they arrived at the borders, where they saw Technoblade standing, in full netherite armor and a trident in his hand. 

“Hey, Technoblade! What are- what are you doing?” Wilbur asked. 

“Dude, I’m invited!” Techno sounded excited. At least as excited as he could sound with his monotone voice. 

“I know, bro but like, you’re supposed to be on our side.”

“In my defense,” the pig admitted, “I thought it would be funny.”

Wilbur walked around, looking for a good place to hide out and watch the festival while Tommy scurried behind him. “Why aren’t you concerned about the fact that we’re not invited here, dude?” he asked.

“What do you mean? I am concerned. I”m being very careful, Tommy.” He said as he carelessly marched around.

“Well, you don’t have any armor or other defenses on you.”

Wilbur scoffed. “I don’t need armor.”

The men walked around some more. “I wanna have one last moment, Will. Come with me, come with me.” He dragged Wilbur behind a building.

“ _ One last time. _ ” Wilbur sang the  _ Hamilton _ lyric. “I’m having a great time, Tommy, I’m excited.”

Tommy turned Wilbur’s head so he was facing him. “Don’t do this. You don’t have to do this. This is our home!”

Wilbur swatted his hands away. “I’ve invested so much into this, Tommy.”

“We’re not the villains.”

“We are the villains, Tommy! We didn’t win the election and now we’re trying to fight for it back!” 

Tommy jumped at the sudden change of his tone. 

“Look how lovely this place is under Schlatt!” Wilbur gestured toward the decorated town square. “Look how lovely Schlatt has made this place!”

“Then do you have to blow it up then!?” Tommy whined.

“BECAUSE IF I CAN’T HAVE IT NO ONE CAN! I’ve said this... No one should be allowed this. Tommy, you know what I’m doing? I’m creating a power vacuum! And you know who can fill it, Tommy? You’re gonna like this” Wilbur leaned in close. “You can fill it.”

Tommy shoved his friend away. “Will, I would rather die a winner, then live a loser.”

Wilbur spun around with his hands held out. “Oooohhhhh there he goes with his heroics!” He mocked.

The men looked around for some more food and materials. 

Tommy handed Wilbur a cake he found in a community chest. “Here, take this.”

Wilbur looked down at the cake. “Did Niki make this?”

“Yeah... I think so.”

Wilbur looked up slowly. He looked like he was about to punch him, but instead, he threw the cake to the ground, splattering it everywhere. “Why did you give me a cake that Niki made? Are you trying to imply that I shouldn’t be doing this because of Niki? Huh?” Wilbur imagined Niki’s smiling face looking up at him. He imagined what she would do if she could see him now. She would probably hug him and cry; she would tell him she loves him and beg him not to end it all, but Niki wasn’t there with him. “She means nothing to me, Tommy. None of them do. We can kill them all. It doesn’t matter.” He lied.

“Will?” A soft voice spoke behind him.

Wilbur darted around to see Niki standing there with glassy eyes. She heard what Wilbur had just said. 

“Niki...” He reached for her hand but she swatted him away. 

“Look, Will, I know you're hurting. I know you’ve been through a lot, but that doesn’t mean what you’re doing is right.” She finally took his once soft hands that were now calloused and rough, but they were still warm. “Come with me.”

Wilbur dropped everything and Niki dragged him to her old bakery without saying anything. She got out all the ingredients to bake a cake. He raised his eyebrow at her. 

“We’re making a cake right now?”

Niki smiled and handed him an apron, “Trust me, Will.” 

They began preparing the cake and just for a second, Wilbur felt like his old self again. As he was mixing the ingredients, he felt something hit him in his face. He looked over and saw Niki giggling, her hand in the flour container. Wilbur laughed and threw flour back at her. By the time the cake was done they were both covered in baking ingredients, but they didn’t care. They only cared that they were together.

“Don’t blow up Manburg, Will. Don’t you want a life with me like this? We can open up the bakery again. We can do this every day!”

A tear rolled down his cheek. “I’d love that.” 

Wilbur went in for a warm hug, but his arms clasped the air. He looked down at his coat to see it was no longer covered in flour and looked around to see that he was back with Tommy by the community chests. He’d imagined the whole thing. Niki wasn’t there and she wasn’t going to be there.

He shook his head. “Just forget it, Tommy.” 

The festival had begun and people flooded into their seats before Tommy could respond.

“Wilbur, take this,” he handed him an ender pearl. “What you’re doing here is wrong, but I don’t want you to go down with it.”

“Oh, I have no intention of going down with it.” His curly brown hair had fallen in front of his face, leaving only one bloodshot eye able to be seen. 

Tommy and Wilbur climbed the roof of an office building and watched as the president and his right-hand-man stepped onto the stage. Tubbo looked up at them and nodded.

Tommy looked down at the crowd of people and his eyes widened. He nudged Wilbur.

“What, Tommy?” He snapped.

“Wilbur, there are a lot of people here!”

“I know there are a lot of people here!”

“Jesus Christ!” Tommy placed his hands on the top of his head. “Wilbur, where’s the button?”

“I’m not telling you where the button is.”

“C’mon, man!”

“Fine!” He gestured behind a hill the stage was on. “It’s behind that hill right there.”

“Hello everybody!” Schlatt bellowed. “Welcome to the festival!” The crowd cheered, except for Eret and Niki, who had her arms crossed and had a pouty look on her face. “I’ve invited all the citizens of Manbrug and some very close friends of mine, to enjoy the festivities that this nation... something... I don’t know...” He shrugged. “Basically I just wanted to have a party.”

Wilbur started having second thoughts as he looked down at all his friends, some of whom he hadn’t seen since he was exiled. His eyes finally landed on Niki and he felt a lump form in his throat. He looked up at his friend standing over his shoulder. “Tommy, I’m having second thoughts. I don’t know if I want to do this.”

“Don’t! Don’t, Wilbur! You shouldn’t! We can take it back!”

“But this is the opportunity! If I don’t blow it up now then when will I!?”

“You don’t have to Wilbur! Look how happy everyone is!”

Wilbur dragged his hands across his face and tucked his hair back into his beanie. “Yeah, everyone’s  _ fucking  _ happy.”

They looked down at the festival again and saw Tubbo conversing with all his friends.

“Look, Wilbur. Look at Tubbo! Look at him in his suit, all grown up.”

“ _ Fuck  _ I don’t wanna look at him in his suit bro!” Wilbur slammed his fist on the roof. “Don’t say that. Don’t say that!”

“Wilbur, look!”

“No, no, NO!”

“You don’t want him to be happy?”

“Oh my God,” Wilbur whispered to himself. “Tommy, I...” His voice trailed off. “What if this is the only chance I get? Schlatt needs consequences for his actions. He can’t just keep being handsome, and powerful, and  _ handsome _ , and strong all the time. He needs to be put down a peg.” 

Wilbur grew jealous as he saw the Manburg citizens dance together. He could still call the whole thing off, but did he want to?

Tubbo crept on to the roof behind them. “What’s up, guys?” His voice was shaky. 

“Tubbo, I’m having second thoughts.” Wilbur blurted. “When are you doing your speech?”

“Uhhhh, soon I guess?”

“Tubbo I need you to-” Wilbur paused for a moment and sighed. “Tubbo, is he a good leader? Honestly. Just, honestly say it. Don’t sugar coat it! You’re not a spy here, Tubbo. Friend-to-friend, is Schlatt a good leader?”

“Friend-to-friend, he’s made a ton of positive improvements but he has some strange ideas,” Tubbo said matter-of-factly.

“Tubbo, are you happier?” Tommy interjected.

“Ummmm,” He had to take a moment to think. “Definitely not more than when you guys were in charge.”

“Tubbo, do you think we should blow it up?”

“Well... no but-”

“You told me that you think we should...” Wilbur interrupted. 

“Well Wilbur, I- I trust your better judgment.”

Wilbur shook his head and laughed. “You’re just a yes man, Tubbo.”

Tommy stepped in front of his best friend. “He’s not just a yes man!” He defended.

“This isn’t the first time he’s done this! Whenever I propose anything he goes,  _ yeah sure that’s a good idea. _ Tubbo, think for yourself! Please.”

“Well, I don’t think you should blow it up. I think there are other approaches.”

“See, Wilbur! See! He’s right, Wilbur, he’s right!”

Tubbo looked over the edge of the building and saw Schlatt looking around for him “I have to go now I think.”

“Go, go give your speech.” Wilbur asserted.

“Tubbo!”

“Yeah?”

Tommy pulled him in for a hug. “Be safe.” 

Tubbo turned and climbed back down to the festivities. He was visibly shaking. 

Tommy turned to Wilbur. “You can’t insult him like that, Wilbur. He’s not a yes man.”

Wilbur took his phone out of his pocket and messaged the spy. “It’s in his hands now, Tommy. If he says the line, then I’m running past that hill and pressing the button.”

“That’s not fair to him, Wilbur.” He turned his attention back to the festivities where everyone was gathered by a boxing ring that had been set up. “Oh, look! Techno’s fighting someone!”

“I reckon he’s gonna win. He’s like, known for that isn’t he?”

“No probably just gonna talk about his potatoes.”

“Ohhh oh, my name’s Technoblade, look at all my potatoes.” Wilbur imitated his monotone voice.   
“Ohhh ohhh, I’m Technoblade, gotta go farm potatoes,” Tommy copied. They both laughed while they continued to imitate their friend.

“Tommy I like this. We haven’t hung out like this in a while, it’s been quite cold.” Tommy smiled. 

They glanced over at Tubbo, who was walking over to the podium. This was the moment. This was where it all happens; for L’Manburg. Wilbur wondered if his father, PhilZa would be proud of him. He wasn’t. What would he be proud of him for? For killing all his friends? Definitely not.

“Tubbo, turn the mic on for me will ya?” Schlatt asked as he sat on his throne. He quickly scurried to turn it on. “Hello?” His voice came out shrill and funny through the mic.

“Oh shit,” Tubbo quickly ran back to fix the mic. “Wrong setting, sorry.”

“This is a disaster!” Niki yelled. “This is an embarrassment! Who put him in charge?!”

“Shut up, woman!” Schlatt’s voice echoed in the normal mic setting. “Aw man, I do like to make fun of Tubbo for all the shit he does wrong, like the microphone- I mean he fucks up a lot, I think we can all agree on that.” Niki shook her head. “But at the end of the day,” the president continued, “he’s the one that made all of this happen. This guy’s slaving away. He’s mining, he’s crafting, he’s building railroads, and all this other beautiful stuff. Y’know, I don’t know if we’d be where we are today without him.”

“Thank you, Schlatt!” Tubbo beamed.

“I really feel that way, Tubbo. I really do consider you my right-hand-man, and oh my God, you know how Jesus is seated at the right hand of the father?”

“No, I’ve actually never read the Bible.”

“Okay...” he turned to Quackity, “He’s never read the Bible.” The vice president shook his head. He’d never read the Bible either but he’d rather not admit that. “Anyway, when Tubbo said,  _ Schlatt, I’d like to say my piece about how great this country is, and about how awesome you are,  _ I mean, who am I to say no to that, right? So without any further ado, I think I’ll put big man Tubbo, my right-hand-man, my prodigé, on the mic.”

Wilbur started shaking. He decided he would press the button whether or not Tubbo said the line. The crowd cheered as he stepped onto the podium.

“Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen,” he began, “I’m actually too short to reach the microphone, so my voice doesn't quite boom like Schlatt’s does, but, um,” Wilbur melted at Tubbo’s wholesomeness. “a wise man once told me, Manburg was like a lettuce.”

“I said that!” Schlatt interrupted.

“There are many layers of tasty and healthy goodness, and once you wash off all the caterpillars and bugs off the surface, it’s a pretty damn good meal. Schlatt has successfully washed all the insects off our great nation! And with that, he’s allowed the goodness and tastiness to shine through!”

“Right!” he interrupted again. “Those two numbnuts!”

“Ladies and gentlemen, I’d like you to look around at all we’ve done. Look at each other. All of this, thanks to democracy, and the leadership of Jschlatt! Our people have been beaten down by rulers and dictators for so long, and now we are finally free! Free to elect who we want, free to live how we want, and most importantly, free to move wherever we want without the  _ confines _ of those huge black walls, so with that in mind-”

Schlatt started laughing ominously.

“What’s wrong, Schlatt?” Tubbo turned to face the president. 

“Nothing. I was just- I was just thinking about it, Tubbo. Y’know how we like to have fun around here?”

“Yeah, we like to have fun. What-”

“Is there anything left in the speech, Big T?”

“No um, let the festival begin!”

That was the cue. Wilbur quickly tried to find a safe way down the building to enter the room with the button, but he was distracted by Schlatt and Quackity placing down concrete around Tubbo. “Wait, what the fuck? What the fuck?” He quickly turned toward Tommy, who looked just as confused as he was.

“Schlatt? What are you-? Schlatt, I can’t get out.” he banged against the metal bars that were placed in front of him. 

“Tubbo, I’m gonna cut to the fucking chase, alright?”

“Tell ‘em, Pres. Tell ‘em” Quackity cheered.

“Tubbo, I...” Schlatt sighed. “It really sucks for me to say this right here in front of everybody, I mean it’s kinda awkward, but...”

“Let him out, Schlatt, please!” Niki cried. She had a feeling about what was about to happen next, and it wasn’t good.

“... Tubbo, Tubbo.”

“Yeah?”

“I know what you’ve been up to.” 

Tommy and Wilbur froze.

“What have I been up to? What do you mean?”

The president laughed, “ _ What have I been up to? _ ” he mocked. “YOU’VE BEEN CONSPIRING, WITH THE IDIOTS, THE TYRANTS THAT WE KICKED OUT OF THIS GREAT COUNTRY!” Spit flew out of his mouth as he yelled. “Tubbo, I don’t know if you know this, but treason isn’t uh, isn’t exactly a respectable thing around here.” Tubbo continued to shake the bars and the men on the roof quickly tried to figure out a way to save him. “Tubbo, I know what you’ve been up to. It all adds up, buddy! The fucking tunnels! Your absences! I mean, you walked off right in the middle of the festival!” 

Tommy had Dream’s crossbow ready, but Wilbur told him to hold his fire.

“Don’t try and tell me you’ve done nothing wrong!” Schlatt continued. “Because everybody knows it! I sees it with my own two fuckin’ eyes!”

“Uhhhh.” Tubbo started panicking. 

“Do you know what happens to traitors, Tubbo?”

“No...”

“Nothing good.”

“No!” Niki gasped. 

Schlatt called for Technoblade to join them on the stage. “Now that we’ve got Tubbo in that,” he giggled, “ _ Tubbox _ ...”

Wilbur quickly messaged Tubbo:  _ he doesn’t know Techno is on our side. Techno will exact our revenge. _

“Tubbo, as uh, as the enemy of the state, and as the perpetrator to these awful,  _ awful  _ people...” 

“I don’t even know what that word means.”

“Neither do I,” Schlatt admitted. He turned to the pig. “Techno, please, if you would be so kind, take care of this kid.” 

Tommy and Wilbur found themselves unable to move, and tears ran down Niki’s face.  
“You want me to get him dinner or something?” Techno asked. “Get him a nice coat? What do you mean by _‘take care of him’_?”

_ He won’t, _ Wilbur thought to himself,  _ Techno is on our side. _

“Techno we’re uh, we’re running on a tight schedule here, so.”

“What do you want out of me, Mr. President?”

_ Techno is on our side. _ Wilbur messaged Tubbo again.  _ He won’t hurt you. _

_ Okay, thank God!,  _ Tubbo messaged back.

“I want you to kill him, Techno. I want you to kill him right now! ON THIS FUCKING STAGE! AND MAKE IT HURT!”

“Schlatt, it’s a fucking festival man!” Said Fundy from the crowd.

“Don’t do it, Techno!” Niki cried. 

“I’d rather rule alone than with you, Tubbo! You fucker!”

“Uhhhhhh. I’m in a high-stress situation.” Techno mumbled. “I don’t do well in these!”

“Schlatt, isn’t jailing him enough?” The vice president asked.

Schlatt yelled at him to fire the arrow, the guards around him looked at the pig with narrow, menacing eyes.

Technoblade loaded his crossbow with a firework. “Tubbo, I’m sorry. I’ll make this as painless and as colorful as possible.” 

Techno fired and chaos erupted as the boy blew up with a colorful explosion. Wilbur ran to find the button. Tommy threw his ender pearl to the stage and he embraced his dying friend. 

“Tommy!?” Someone yelled from the crowd.

“Tommy! We gotta get out of here, man!” Techno yelled as he fought off the guards. 

Wilbur couldn’t find the button. He ran around frantically. “WHERE THE FUCK’S THE BUTTON?!” 

Tubbo respawned and tried to find his friends in the chaos. His whole body ached from the explosion. Everyone was fighting and yelling at each other.

When Tommy and Techno were out of detection and everyone had calmed down, the Manburgians all stared in shock at the president.

“Schlatt, you killed Tubbo!” Quackity yelled.

“Hey, this is what happens.” The president was completely unfazed.

“How could you?!” Niki tried to run up to the podium but she was held back by the guards. “You killed him! You fucking  _ killed  _ him”

“ _ God, I wanna be on Wilbur’s team because he’s so fucking cute and he plays guitar and sings!” _ Schlatt mocked. “Yeah, I did. I did fucking kill him, Niki.”

“How could you?! After everything, he’s done for you!”

“God fucking dammnit, you’ve been a thorn in my side since I took office, Niki.”

“I DON’T EVEN WANT TO BE HERE!”

“Niki, please just calm down.” Quackity tried to run over to comfort her but Schlatt put a hand in front of him to stop him.

“Y’know what? Fuck her. I’m done with her.” He turned to the girl. “You can leave if you want. Y’know what? Please do. I don’t want you here.” 

“Where am I supposed to go...?’

Everyone gasped as Wilbur emerged from the shadows and into the crowd. They hadn’t seen him in the state he was in. His clothes were bloody and stained with dirt and he was skinny and sickly looking. 

“Wilbur!” Niki managed to escape the clutch of the guards and threw her arms around him, but he didn’t hug her back. He didn’t even look at her. 

“Hello, Schlatt. You actually murdered Tubbo.” He chuckled. 

“Yeah I mean... you actually let him do that. You let him spy on me. I’m not gonna lie, I’m pretty upset. Tubbo was a good friend of mine, or at least I thought he was.”

“If you’re going to kill anyone else, kill me.” 

“Yeah, yeah, Loverboy. I’ve had enough out of you. I’m not gonna kill anybody else. Do I look like a bad guy?”

“I mean... kinda.” someone from the crowd said.

“Shut up.” Snapped Schlatt. “Holy shit, Wilbur. You really just crawled up here and interrupted my festival.”

“You sounded like you were gonna murder Niki! I had to do something!”

“Y’know what? That’s a good idea!” 

Wilbur suddenly put his arms around the girl to protect her. 

“Tubbo, get me my- oh fuck I killed him...” Schlatt realized.

“Niki, just run. Run now. I’ll catch up with you.” He pushed Niki forward and started battling the guards before they could kill her, but none of them wanted to. They were shocked and mad about what Schlatt had just done. Tubbo was still only just a sixteen-year-old boy. 

Niki ran aimlessly around, not knowing where to go. Wilbur finally found her and he dragged her to Pogtopia, where they found Tommy tending to Tubbo’s wounds. 

“Wilbur! You said he wasn’t gonna hurt me!” The boy’s eyes were red and puffy from crying. 

“Well, he was supposed to be on our fucking side!” Wilbur yelled back.

“Oh my fucking God” Tommy hid his face in his hands.  
“I couldn’t find the fucking button!” 

Niki cowered in the corner of the cave as Techno walked in.

“What’s up guys?” he sounded awfully cheerful considering he just murdered someone who was supposed to be his friend.

“Are you insane?!” Tommy got close to him. “You were supposed to be on our side!”

“I am on your side.”

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU’RE OUR SIDE? YOU JUST MURDERED TUBBO IN FRONT OF EVERYONE!”

“In my defense, I was under moderate to severe peer pressure, okay?”

“Let me say something,” Wilbur interjected as he stepped between them. “This is perfect!” He smiled widely. “Tommy, this is magnificent. Do you know why this is magnificent, Tommy?”

“Why?”

“Because this is exactly what I was saying! No one is on our side! Everyone is just listening to whoever has the most power! No one cares! No one has any honor here! They’re all just doing what they’re told! Techno, what about you?’

“Well, I’ve been pretty upfront about the whole anarchy thing from the start, so.”

“See Tommy!” You can choose not to forgive Technoblade all you want, but I’m telling you now, he knows what he’s doing.”

“Well, I don’t! I don’t forgive him!”

“Tommy to be fair, I was under a slight amount of peer pressure,” Techno repeated.

“So you just fold to peer pressure then?” Tommy asked accusingly.

“Yes.”

Wilbur broke into laughter, and everyone stopped to stare at him.

“What’s so funny?” Tubbo asked, still sitting on the floor, trying to stop his wounds from bleeding.

Wilbur shrugged. “It’s just exactly as I predicted! It’s exactly as I predicted. It’s all just a travesty!” He looked around and thought for a second. “You know what? Tonight, Manburg’s safe. I’m not gonna blow it up tonight.”

“You.. you were gonna blow it up?” Niki looked at Wilbur. Her voice was shaking.

“Oh, yes!” He walked over to Niki. “I was gonna try and blow up Manburg!” He said smiling. He didn’t seem to be aware of the fact that she was leaning away from him. “I was gonna destroy it in a huge ball of fire.” He started laughing again as he marched over to Techno. “Technoblaaaaade! The Blaaaaaade!” He walked back over to Tommy and nudged him to stand near Techno. “The gang’s all here!” He put a hand on Techno’s shoulder as Tommy’s face turned red and his fist clenched. “Ohhhh, watch out Techno! Tommy looks mad! Look at him! Look at his eyes! Look, he’s pissed at you dude!” This was just a fun game to Wilbur; a game with no winner. “Hey Tommy, say something!” He stood back and rubbed his hands together like he was preparing to watch a show.

“Why’d you kill him, Techno? Why’d you kill Tubbo? What’s wrong with you?”

“Uhhhh, a lot of things really. I have a bad attention span, I’m bad at conversation, I don’t really deal with anything social, um, might have just committed tax fraud recently. I’m not really sure though.”

“You killed Tubbo!”

“Oh yeah, that too.”

“You fucked up man.” Tommy threw a light punch at him. 

Wilbur clapped. “Well I don’t know about you, Tommy but I forgive him!”

“What the fuck?! Well, I do not forgive Technoblade!”

“Hey, Tubbo, tell Techno how much you hate him!” Wilbur brought him to his feet. “Get Tommy to hit him again! I wanna see them fight!” He whispered.

“Oh, I actually do kinda wanna see them fight. Here take these!” He handed them weapons.

“Tubbo, now look at him in the eye and tell Techno how much you  _ hate  _ him!”

“Yeah... screw you!” Tubbo faked aggression. 

“I- you didn’t sound very convincing there, Tubbo.”

“Honestly, that took me a little by surprise.” He laughed. “I think I’m in shock still, I think. Look! My hands are shaking!” He excitedly held up his shaking hands to show everyone. 

Tommy continued to yell at Techno and Wilbur grabbed his pickaxe so he could make a pit for the men to fight in. While he was doing this Niki grabbed Tommy’s arm and pulled him outside.

“Tommy, I have very, very weird vibes from Wilbur. Is he okay?”

“No! No he’s not! He’s gone fucking insane! He was just about to blow up Manburg.”

“But that’s his country! What happened?” Her voice was shaky and soft, softer than usual. “I- I don’t understand!”

Tommy shook his head. “He’s become the villain, Niki.”

“Oh no...Oh my God.” This wasn’t the Wilbur Niki loved.

“Niki, he doesn’t even care that Technoblade killed Tubbo.”

“I’m just happy Tubbo is alive. I was so scared.”

“Let’s just go back, Niki.” He took her hand and walked her back into the cave, where Wilbur was waiting for them. He beckoned him to get into the pit to fight. 

“Tommy,” Techno said, “whatever happens, whoever loses, it stays in the pit.”

“You killed my best friend, Techno.”

“Do it! Do it! Kill him!” Wilbur was bouncing up and down with anticipation.

“I’m not doing this for Wilbur. You betrayed us Techno.”

“There were like twenty guys ready to jump me, Tommy, I had no choice!”

“You have a trident! You can literally fly! Stop it with that bullshit lie!” Tommy charged and threw the first punch. 

Wilbur clapped. “Yes. Yes! Get it out, Tommy! Think of what he did! Think of what he did to Tubbo!”

After punches were thrown for what felt like ages, Tommy finally fell to the ground. He lost the fight. Techno lunged beside him, his knuckles red with blood. “It stays in the pit, Tommy.”

Wilbur cheered and golf clapped. “That was perfect! Thank you! I’m satisfied with that. I’m satisfied with how today went. The bombs are still there, as far as I’m concerned. I just need to find them again. Uh, Techno, you ready to pop some withers in there when I’m done?”

Techno stood up and walked out of the pit to stand beside his friend. “Oh, Wilbur, I have some ideas on how to destroy Manburg. Wilbur, I haven't told anyone this, but in my travels, I have come across the materials to make two creatures of mass destruction. The likes of which no one on this server has ever seen before.”

“Oh yeah?” Wilbur smirked. “Techno, it would be my honor to have you release those creatures after I blow it up. See Technoblade, I don’t care if you’re on our side, as long as you’re willing to help me make chaos!”

“Ohhhh, we’re on the same wavelength, man.”

“Y’know, today, I was prepared to just blow up Manburg and go out with a bang! But after today, I’m ready to cause even more chaos!”

Techno smiled. “You’re speaking my language!”

Wilbur turned to Tommy who was still crouched in the pit. “Look, Tommy, I know you’re still angry and Technoblade, but-”

“Techno you killed him, man! You betrayed-”

“It stays in the pit, Tommy.”

“Well it wasn’t in the fucking pit it was in front of everyone!”

Wilbur rolled his eyes. “I don’t have time for this. You guys have your fun, I’ll be back.” Wilbur left for his base in the wilderness.

“It stays in the pit,” Techno repeated to Tommy. 

“IT WASN’T IN THE PIT! AND THAT DIDN’T SOLVE ANYTHING!”

“Then what was it for, Tommy!? You threw the first punch!” He paused to walk back over to the boy and lunged beside him again. “Tommy, the thing is, you're using words, but the thing is about the world, Tommy, the only universal language is violence, and we’ve had that conversation, we’ve spoken that language, in the pit. It’s over, Tommy. Onto a new day, a new plot, to destroy Manburg.” 

“You’re right, Techno, it is over.”

Techno flashed the three “protagonists” his middle finger before stepping out of the cave to join Wilbur. The three left sat in silence for a few moments.

“We need to stick together,” Tommy finally spoke, “This is just fucked. Wilbur has gone crazy. All he wants is violence and pain, and he’s just-”

“That’s not the Will that I know!” Niki let out the tears she had been holding in. 

“I don’t know what the plan is from here,” Tommy continued.

Niki put her head in her hands. “This can’t be happening. This can’t be happening!” She started pacing back and forth and biting her nails. “We need L’Manburg back.”

The next night, when Tommy was trying to find and destroy the TNT Wilbur had placed, he ran into the president and vice president of Manburg and quickly ducked so they wouldn’t see him. Quackity was staring at Jschlatt in disbelief. 

“What now, huh? You just killed Tubbo!”

“The White House!” Schlatt answered.

His eyes narrowed.“What do you mean the White House?”

“Let’s demolish it! Hand me a pickaxe!” 

“No, no, no, what are you talking about?”

“The White House is coming down, baby!”

“No, no, no, we’re not taking the fucking White House down!”

“Don’t be a little bitch!”

“I’m not fucking taking it down. I’m not doing it.”

“I guess I have to make a pickaxe myself because you’re being a fucking little bitch!” He crafted a pickaxe and began demolishing the blocks of the building. 

Quackity tried to push him out of the way as Tommy continued watching the two men fighting, mesmerized. “Stop! Fucking stop! Wilbur and I built this together!”

“Even more reason to take it down then!” Schlatt started humming a happy tune as he continued, and Quackity tried to place the blocks down as they were destroyed.

“We’re supposed to be making these fucking decisions together!”

“You fucking idiot!” He handed the vice president another pickaxe. “GET  _ FUCKING _ MINING!” Quackity stood staring at the ax. “God! I can’t stand these fucking idiots! I have injected a shit load of steroids into my ass, and I’m feeling jacked!”

“What the fuck? You would have no fucking power if wasn’t for me! You used my fucking votes to get into power! I would be the president right now if it wasn’t for you!”

Schlatt wasn’t listening. He just continued tearing down the walls. “LET’S FUCKING GOOOOO!”

“Oh, fuck you! Fuck you, man!”

Schlatt stopped for a second. “Stop crying about it.”

“I’m not crying-”

Schlatt started fake crying like a baby. “Oh, you’re crying! You’re crying!”

Quackity charged at Schlatt. “Y’know what, you’re only in fucking power because of me!”

“Ohhhh, I’m so scared!” Schlatt teased. “ _ I’m  _ the president! Remember?  _ You  _ wouldn’t have a monocle of power if it weren’t for  _ me _ !”

“Fuck you, no, no, no, no, literally fuck you!” 

The two men continued fighting and talking over each other while Tommy watched smiling. This was good. This was a good thing. 

“Schlatt, I was vice president, but you can find a fucking new one now, I’m done.”

“Get the fuck off of my property then!”

“I ran against Wilbur to protect Manburg from a dictatorship, and that’s just what you’ve fucking become.”

“Oh? Oh? Look what time it is!” He looked down at his watch. “TIME TO FUCKING CRY ABOUT IT!” 

Quackity pointed his bow at the president. 

“Oh yeah! Rack that bow! Rack that bow! We both know you’re too fucking pussy to do it!” Quackity shot the bow.

“I’m out of here. I’m getting the fuck out of here.”

Quackity stormed out of the remains of the White House to find Tommy crouching behind the bushes. 

“Tommy?”

“What the fuck just happened?” He tried to pretend like he wasn’t just listening in on them.

“Tommy, you and me, we have to fucking talk, dude.”

Tommy chuckled. “It’s been a while, Mr. Vice President.”

“I’m not the vice president anymore, Tommy. Listen he um...” He let out a laugh. “Schlatt’s an asshole, that's all I’m gonna say. He’s a piece of shit.”

Quackity was on their side now, but Tommy knew it still probably wasn’t enough to convince Wilbur not to end it all. 


	8. Apparently Giant Penises Don’t Solve All Your Problems

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Quackity stepped in front of him. “Wilbur, I don’t know what your end goal with this button is, but not today. We have some really good plans in place.”
> 
> “We can build more dicks!” Tommy added in.
> 
> “No... we’re not gonna build more dicks.”
> 
> “Sorry, that seemed like the right thing to say.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> //TW: slight gore and mentions of suicide

Wilbur woke up the next morning with a clearer mind. He realized that he’d let Schlatt away with a victor for Manburg, and he couldn’t let that happen. When it was early in the morning and no one was awake yet, he waltzed into Manburg and found the room with the button. He decided that that would be the day he pressed it. 

He went back to Pogtopia to find Tommy.

“Tommmyyyyy. Pspspspsps,” he said like someone trying to get their cat out from underneath the sofa. “Where are you? It's time to blow up everything! Tommmyyyyy!” He couldn’t find him anywhere. 

“Toommmmyyyyyy! Have good news!” His voice echoed throughout the tunnels. When he turned the corner he found Tommy standing there with Quackity by his side. Wilbur stopped in his tracks.  
“I have good news too,” Tommy said nervously. “We have a new recruit!”

“Hey, Wilbur!” Quackity waved.

“I definitely recruited him all by myself!” Quackity gave him a look. That wasn’t entirely true but he let it slide. 

“Wait, wait, rollback. Big Q, why do you want to join Pogtopia?” 

Quackity gave him the whole rundown of what had happened the night before with him and Schlatt. That was enough for Wilbur to let him join, and he asked if he was ready for chaos and destruction.

“I’m sorry what?”

“Oh,” Wilbur snickered. “It’s not important, Big Q, don’t worry about it.” 

When they reached the end of the tunnel to Manburg, Wilbur was fully ready to run to the button and blow it up, but the two teenagers with him had slightly different plans in mind. They took the cobblestone that Tommy had collected and built a large phallic structure right in the middle of Manburg. 

Wilbur sat back and studied the two boys as they built. “So this is how you two plan on taking down Schlatt?”

Tommy and Quackity glanced at each other. “Well, we’re only sixteen and nineteen, Wilbur, what else do you expect?”

Tommy and Quackity took Wilbur to the spot the White House used to be. They stood for a second, remembering when they built it together. 

Wilbur shook his head. “This was the one place that wasn’t gonna be blown up by my TNT.” He turned to Quackity who had a confused look on his face, unsure of if Wilbur was joking or not. “Oh, you don’t know about that, Big Q.”

“What?!”

“By TNT, he means it has a metaphor for-” Tommy tried to swerve the topic.

“It’s a metaphor for how much I love Captain Sparlz’s song.” He started singing nervously and snapping to the beat, “ _ I came to dig, dig, dig, dig. I’ll build a city that’s so big, big, big, big.  _ Join in Tommy!” Tommy joined in off-key, “ _ Wait second gotta kill this pig, pig, pig, pig! Cook me some bacon take a swig, swig, swig, swig, yeah, yeah ‘cause-  _ See Big Q, I was gonna cover the nation in my lyrics and this was the one spot that wasn’t gonna be privileged with my singing.”

“Oh, I see.” 

Wilbur and Tommy both sighed with relief and gave each other looks that meant,  _ good save. _ Wilbur’s eyes found a button placed on the ground.

“I’m really glad no one placed this button before the festival.” He said as he pressed it.

“Why?!” Tommy asked as he braced for an explosion.

“Oh, no reason. I just wanted to scare you.” He looked over at Quackity, who was still extremely confused. “I should probably tell you what all this is about, shouldn’t I? Well, Tommy, one of the biggest mistakes I made last night was losing the button, right?” Tommy nodded. “So this morning, I came here, and I had a little look around.” He motioned for the boys to follow him, and he led them to a secret corridor behind the stage. “I found it.” He motioned for them to walk in. Neither of them was prepared for what they were about to lay their eyes on.

The corridor led to a narrow hallway, and at the end sat a room stacked with TNT and a single chair placed in the center of the room facing a small oak button. Scribbled on the walls were the lyrics of the L’Manburg national anthem. 

“Holy shit!” Tommy exclaimed when he walked in.

“Hi.” Wilbur smiled. “Please don’t press that button.”

Tommy and Quackity both screamed. 

“What the fuck is this?!” The former vice president yelled. 

Wilbur sat down on the chair and folded his hands on his lap. “Quackity, last night, I was gonna blow this place up. Dream gave me about four stacks of TNT, which are currently laying under Manburg.” He gestured to the button. “That is connected to Redstone and repeaters, which when triggered will blow up the entire nation.” He said calmly. “I brought you two here to bear witness to this.”

They all paused and looked up when they heard Schlatt’s footsteps above them.

“Listen,” Wilbur continued, “I missed my chance to do this last night, and when I woke up this morning, I saw that Schlatt was in Manburg, and I thought, what better time to eradicate and the nation than right now? I can finally do what I said I would do!”

“Wilbur, blowing it up isn’t gonna do anything!” Quackity said in a hushed but urgent tone.

“Oh, you sound  _ just _ like Tommy!” 

“Wilbur, keep your voice, Schlatt’s gonna hear us!”

“It doesn't matter, Tommy!” He yelled back and spread his arms out wide. “We’ll all be dead soon anyway!” 

He stood up and stepped near the button, but Quackity pushed him away before he could press it.

“Can I finish my monologue, please?” Wilbur asked. He cleared his throat and continued. “Yesterday, I had the perfect opportunity to blow everything up and finally end it! I had  _ the  _ perfect opportunity to blow it all up and save everyone from the tyranny of Schlatt and the existence of Manburg! So today I’m gonna do it!”

“What the fuck are you talking about? What the hell is all this?”

Tommy started placing cobblestone around where Wilbur was standing.

“What are you doing? Let me out, guys. Let me out!” He started punching the stone with his bare hands. “As soon as I’m through with this cobblestone I’m pressing that button!”

Tommy and Quackity yelled unintelligibly over each other to try and convince Wilbur not to. Every time Wilbur broke through the cobblestone Tommy just placed more. Wilbur’s fist started getting bloody. 

“Give me a reason! Give me a reason not to blow it all up!”

“It’s not the right thing to do, Wilbur!” Tommy yelled.

“You’re not just gonna hurt Schlatt, you’re gonna hurt, everyone! Niki, Fundy, Tubbo!” Quackity added. “Everything you’ve worked for will be gone!”

“Jesus Christ.” Wilbur was more annoyed than anything. He gave up on punching through the stone. “Why did I bring you guys here? I’m such a fucking showman!”

“Wilbur, everyone is going to die with you if you do this, this isn’t fair!”

“No! You two can escape! I’ll be... I’ll be trapped in here...” He continued to punch through the stone.

“Stop! If you press that button you’re going down with it”

Wilbur grunted. “I just- I JUST WANNA FUCKING END IT!” He truly didn’t care if he died in the explosion. In fact, he kind of wanted to. 

“What are you trying to achieve with this, Wilbur?” Quackity continued trying to reason with someone who couldn’t be reasoned with.

“Wilbur, if you press that button, you’re gonna die, and Quackity and I are gonna die too.”

He put his head in his hands and collapsed to the ground. The blood on his hands rubbed onto his face. “Why do you have to make this so difficult?”

Tommy took out his pickaxe and destroyed the cobblestone. Wilbur quickly stood up and ran back to the button. He thought for a moment as his hand hovered over it. He thought back to the final control room.  _ It was never meant to be _ , Eret had said. 

“Ohhhh, fuck you!” He collapsed to the ground once more. He couldn’t bring himself to press it. Wilbur hated himself for having to be the center of attention. For making a whole show out of something he should've just done himself. “You love it, don’t you, Tommy. You love L’Manburg.”

“Yes.”

“And Big Q, you wanna help?”

“Wilbur, when I ran against you it was to save L’Manburg. It wasn’t against you or Tommy. I just wanted more freedom for that land, and blowing it up ruins everything we’ve all been fucking working for.”

Wilbur looked up at them “Have you ever heard of something called Chekhov’s Gun?” Both of them shook their heads. “It’s an idea in plot devices where if you tease something for long enough, and you keep showing it off, you have to do it at some point.” He stood up and faced back toward the button. 

Quackity stepped in front of him. “Wilbur, I don’t know what your end goal with this button is, but not today. We have some really good plans in place.”

“We can build more dicks!” Tommy added in.

“No... we’re not gonna build more dicks.”

“Sorry, that seemed like the right thing to say.”

Wilbur didn’t laugh at the humorous exchange. Instead, he looked straight past Quackity. “Big Q, I need you to step out of the way so I can reach the button.”

Quackity didn’t move even though he was growing more intimidated by the much taller man standing in front of him.. “Listen, Wilbur-”

“Quackity, move out of the way!”

“No! We can take down Schlatt!”

“I know we can but we would be the bad guys!” 

Tommy pushed Quackity away and took his place.

“Tommy, step aside.”

“No.”

“Tommy, step aside! That is an order!”

“NO!”

Wilbur shook his head and sighed, “Tommy, if you trusted me you would step to one side.”

“If you want to kill all of us with Manburg, then be my guest.” He finally stepped aside. 

Wilbur hovered his hand over the button once again. He was visibly shaking and the men standing beside him held their breaths as he reached over, but he didn’t press it. Instead, he tore it off the wall. He sighed and looked at Tommy. “We’ve tried my ideas. I’m willing to listen to you.”

“Alright! Alright okay!” Tommy picked up all the TNT sprawled around them. “Will, listen to me.” 

Wilbur looked at the child. 

“Thank you.”

“Can I have a minute alone in here, please? You guys head back to Pogtopia. I’ll be there in a bit.” Tommy and Quackity reluctantly stepped out of the room. 

The former president of a once-great nation sat in the chair and looked at the writing scribbled on the walls. “ _ I heard there was a special place,”  _ he sang. “ _ Where men could go and emancipate the brutality, and the tyranny of their rulers. Well, this place is real, you needn’t fret, with Wilbur, Tommy, Tubbo, fuck Eret. It’s a very big and not blown-up L’Manburg. My L’Manburg, my L’Manburg, my L’Manburg.”  _ When he was done, he placed the button back on the wall. “My L’Manburg! My L’Manburg...” He grunted and punched the wall with his already injured fist. As long as he knew the button was there. That’s all he needed. He wasn’t gonna press it. Not today. He’d be back. He’d be back for it. 

Wilbur gave Quackity a week to somehow convince Schlatt to step down. If he failed, the button would be pressed, and all of it would come to an end with a nice bow on the top.


	9. ¡Me Perdonas!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Alright, I’m bored,” He said before he finished reading, but then he saw the clause that would make him pay child support for Quackity’s unborn child. The men bickered over who the father was and how he could even be pregnant in the first place as Tommy and Wilbur struggled to fit in the cupboard they were hiding in. Schlatt made Quackity take the clause out. “It’s a good thing I read these things,” he said. “I’ve had so many people try and scam me with these contracts.”
> 
> Quackity chuckled nervously and glanced over to where his friends were hiding. 

A week had passed and it was finally time for Quackity’s meeting with Schlatt. He and Tommy had devised a plan. Since Quackity hadn’t formally stepped down as vice president yet, he would hand Schlatt a contract permitting the construction of a new hotel in Manburg for him to sign. If Schlatt signed it, he would unknowingly be passing his power over to Quackity since on the hundredth page of the document, after dozens of blank pages, lied a secret clause that said so. If the plan was for anyone other than Schlatt, it definitely wouldn’t work, but Schlatt was probably stupid enough to fall for it. If he didn’t, however, Wilbur was fully ready to smack that button.

Quackity dragged the president into a room where Tommy and Wilbur were hiding so they could listen in. Wilbur was ready with an arrow of invisibility to shoot Quackity with once he said the code words,  _ me perdonas  _ if things went wrong. 

“Let’s fucking get this over with, dude, I don’t have time for this,” Schlatt complained. He was sitting at his desk, which was cluttered with mountains of papers and empty bottles of booze.

Quackity read him over the first part of the document and handed it over to Schlatt so he could see it for himself, and he flipped through the pages.

“Alright, I’m bored,” He said before he finished reading, but then he saw the clause that would make him pay child support for Quackity’s unborn child. The men bickered over who the father was and how he could even be pregnant in the first place as Tommy and Wilbur struggled to fit in the cupboard they were hiding in. Schlatt made Quackity take the clause out. “It’s a good thing I read these things,” he said. “I’ve had so many people try and scam me with these contracts.”

Quackity chuckled nervously and glanced over to where his friends were hiding. 

Schlatt’s face dropped as he started flipping through the blank pages. “What is this?” he asked. “Why are there all these blank pages?”

“It’s a... it’s a new court custom, you know? I just wanted to make it professional.” He felt sweat trickle down his back. “Can you just sign and we can get the hotel started right away? It would be great for tourism, you know?” He glanced back at his friends then at Schlatt again. “Just sign the contract, man and we can both be on our way.”

Schlatt continued flipping through the empty pages. Quackity tried to yank them away but Schlatt swatted his hand.

“You know what? I’m just gonna sign this thing.” He reached for his pen. “Let’s see, S-L... oh wait no that’s not right.” He was teasing them, he knew something was sketchy. 

“Y-you got this, Schlatt, you can do it.” 

Schlatt stopped writing suddenly before finishing his name and looked up at Quackity. “Y’know, Big Q,” He said. “I was walking around Manburg yesterday, and I noticed something funny.”

Quackity chuckled nervously again. “What’d you notice, man?”

“I saw a hole, right behind the stage...”

“Oh really? I wonder what that could be about.”

“Yeah, so I found the hole, and I noticed something, Big Q.”

Tommy and Wilbur slowly turned their heads to look at each other.  _ Oh fuck, _ they both thought. 

“I don’t really know what it was, but it was fucking explosives! There were explosives under the stage!”

Quackity shook his head vigorously. “I have no idea what that’s about!” His voice went up in pitch like it usually did when he was lying.

“It’s funny that I found that after our big fight, and we have this little meeting, Quackity!”

“Yeah, yeah that is funny!” He forced a laugh.

Schlatt threw the papers to the ground. “You know what I did Quackity?! You know what I did when I saw all the TNT  _ you  _ planted?!”

“It wasn’t me!”

“Yeah, yeah, it must’ve been the other guy! The other guy I had a huge fight with!”

“No! ¡Me Perdonas! ¡¡¡Me perdonas!!!”

Wilbur burst out of the cupboard and shot Quackity with the arrow, making him invisible and he, Tommy, and Wilbur all ran out. 

“It’s plan bomb! It’s plan bomb!” Wilbur shouted as they ran through the streets of Manburg. 

“You think you can just run away and I’m not gonna follow you?!” Schlatt picked up the papers and ran after them. “Oh my God, you fucking imbeciles!” 

Wilbur quickly climbed up a tree as Schlatt continued running after Tommy. Quackity was still invisible. 

“If you’re running back to Pogtopia, I wouldn’t fucking do it! Because you wanna know what I did with the TNT?!”

Tommy stopped running “What the fuck did you do?!” he yelled back at him.

Schlatt chuckled and shook his head. “Oh, you don’t even wanna know.” 

“What did you do to Pogtopia, Schlatt?!” Quackity’s invisibility wore off.

“When I found the TNT, I paid for a little Uhaul truck to take it somewhere else for me. I think I’ll leave it at that.” Schlatt cackled. “Not only did one of my oldest friends turn on me. But he tried to destroy my whole nation!”

“No, Schlatt no... It wasn’t me! You know it wasn’t me!”

“You tried to blow up everything I’ve ever fucking worked for. Now it’s time for me to do the same to you.” Schlatt took out the document. “Let’s see what it says on page one hundred, shall we?” He cleared his throat. “This document, also hereby turns Schlatt’s immediate resignation of power into effect! This power will be transferred to Quackity as soon as it’s signed-'' He couldn’t finish reading because he was laughing so hard. 

Wilbur’s eyes widened as he watched the exchange from above. He jumped down from the tree and ran to the button room as the other men continued yelling at each other. He took a deep breath. It was time for plan bomb. 

“You son of bitch.” Quackity muttered.

“Schlatt, did you get all the TNT from Manburg?”

“I guess that’s for me to know and for you to find out.” The president calmly walked back to his office.

Quackity looked around. “Tommy?”

“Yeah?”

“Where the fuck is Wilbur?”

Without saying anything else, the two of them ran as fast as they could to the button room, where Wilbur stood with his hand over the button. 

“No!” Tommy yelled.

Wilbur slammed the button and all three of them braced for the explosion. After a few seconds they untensed their muscles. Nothing happened.

“What? No!” Wilbur continued slamming the button but still, nothing was happening. He slowly stepped back and his jaw dropped to the floor. 

The three of them ran back to Pogtopia, which was littered with buttons all around the walls and floor. 

“What the fuck is this?!” Quackity exclaimed.

“Don’t. Touch. Anything.” Wilbur cautioned. None of them knew which button would set off the TNT that was possibly laying under Pogtopia.

Tommy and Quackity continued screaming. They started taking down the buttons but stopped when they realized there were far too many. Wilbur just sat back on a ledge with his feet dangling, enjoying the chaos. 

“Guys look at this!” Wilbur started pressing random buttons around him.  
“Wilbur, stop!”

“Hey Big Q, look at this! Whoop!” He continued pressing buttons. 

“Fucking stop!”

Wilbur giggled and clapped. “This is wonderful. I love this.”

Tommy and Quackity looked up at him in disbelief.

“This isn’t the end of the world guys,” he said. “I still have plenty of TNT left.”

“You don’t need to use any of them!” Tommy pleaded.

Wilbur winced. “I kinda do though... Remember Chekhov’s Gun?”

“I honestly forgot what that means.”

“Wilbur,” Quackity stepped in front of Tommy. “The meeting didn’t go exactly as planned, but there are still other options!”

Fundy stepped out from the tunnels and into the cave.

“Look who it is!” Wilbur exclaimed. “It’s my traitor son!” 

Tommy pointed his arrow at the fox. “Stay the fuck away from us.”

“Gentlemen, may I have your attention, just for one minute?” Fundy asked politely. Even though he was Wilbur’s son, they were still very close in age. ( _ I really don’t know how that fucking works but we’re just gonna roll with it. _ ) “I would say that this has been a fine evening so far. I would say that this has been a really, really great evening, and what a good evening for some good ‘ole double-crossing.” He smiled. He had the same destructive look in his eyes as his father when he smiled. “Now, let me just say, I might have something for you that may lighten up your mood a little bit.”

“Shut up,  _ fur boy _ .” Tommy snapped.

“Wait, let him speak,” Wilbur said from the ledge.

“I have been documenting  _ every single step _ , every single  _ action _ that Schlatt has taken since he took office. You see, I have some information that might be beneficial to you all.”

“Did you put these buttons here, Fundy?” Tommy interrupted. 

“Is this a fucking prank, asshole?” Quackity added.

“You see,” Fundy ignored the two teenagers. “Schlatt isn’t as powerful as he makes himself out to be. He is the polar goddamn opposite of powerful. Wilbur, would you mind reading this for me?” He tossed him a journal. It was titled  _ A Spy’s Diary. _

“ _ The following is confidential information, _ ” Wilbur read aloud. “ _ Schlatt has a severe addiction to alcohol and cigarettes to suppress his aching body. He is unwilling to get it checked due to his pride. If the symptoms progress, he may encounter fatal consequences. Schlatt is incapable of swimming. After further inspection, it seems to be a form of muscle atrophy. He uses protein supplements to regain a viable level of strength. He seems to get weaker by the day. Schlatt is surprisingly unaware of the concerns and state of Manburg. He is unaware of how in reality, he stands alone. Schlatt has no power, his entire stand is a façade In fact, he is in weakest point as we speak.”  _ Wilbur closed the book.

“What does façade mean?” Tommy asked innocently. 

“It’s a French word meaning a front,” Wilbur responded.

Tommy’s eyes darted toward Fundy. “Are you French?! ‘Cause I don't wanna team up with the French.”

“Is that all you got from all of that?!” Fundy slapped his forehead.

“Everyone was thinking it!” Tommy defended. “I’m just the only one with balls to say it...” 

“Fundy,” Wilbur tried to get the conversation back on track. “I thought you were the only one on Schlatt’s side.”

“Schlatt thinks so too.” His son answered.

This was a means to celebrate. Schlatt had no one on his side, or at least they thought. 

“This is brilliant! You see, Tommy, now if we blow up Manburg only Schlatt will be affected!” Wilbur exclaimed. 

“Wilbur... you’re onto something,” Tommy added. “We can take back Manburg. We can take back L’Manburg!”

“We can blow it up!”  
“NO!” Tommy, Quackity, and Fundy yelled back. 

“Hello?” The four men turned to face Dream, who had just unexpectedly stepped into the cave. “Jschlatt has just given me something. I can’t tell you what it is though.”

“He gave you some sort of disease, didn’t he?” 

“I- no, Tommy. He gave me something that means I have to side with him.”

“So what disease then?”

“Shut the fuck up Tommy.” Quackity elbowed him. “What did he give you, Dream?”

“Well... I can’t tell you.”

“Such a cute little anti-hero!” Wilbur teased.

Dream looked up at him. His feet were still dangling from the edge. “You can still blow it, I don’t really care about that.”

Wilbur clapped, “Alright awesome, so the plan is settled then!”

“No, Wilbur!” Quackity turned back to Dream. “Seriously, dude, what did he give you?”

“It was more of an agreement. He gave me his signature on an agreement promising me something more powerful than any of you could ever give me. I’m not saying anything more about it.”

Dream, Fundy, Tommy, Wilbur, Techno, Quackity, and all the citizens of Manburg were gathered for a meeting. They set a date for a duel; a duel that would determine the future of Manburg. It was everyone against Dream, Schlatt, and his guards. If they lost, Wilbur would blow it up. No one thought they would lose though. That is, until before they all departed when Dream turned to them all. “I should tell you that there is a traitor on your side.” A frenzy broke out of people accusing each other as Dream walked out, smiling under his mask. 


	10. Today on Dr. Phil: A Traitor!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “We need to talk.” He said as his invisibility potion faded away, revealing his bloodied smiley face mask.
> 
> “How are you, Dream? That was a nice invisibility play you just did there.”
> 
> “Yeah, it was kind of out of my comfort zone, but I decided to try it out.”
> 
> They spoke like they were two friends catching up over a cup of coffee, not enemies who were in the middle of a battle.
> 
> “Look, Wilbur, Schlatt’s an idiot.”
> 
> “How long did it take you to figure that out? Schlatt’s an idiot. We knew this already.”
> 
> “Yeah, well, he’s more of an idiot than you would think.”
> 
> “Oh?”
> 
> “I thought that fighting with him would be good, and I gave him full netherite armor-- where is he?”
> 
> “What?”
> 
> Dream escorted Wilbur out of the building. “Look around. Where’s Schlatt.”
> 
> Wilbur looked over at the crowd of fighting people. Jschlatt was nowhere to be seen.

Everyone scrambled to gather as many tools and weapons as they could before the war. Wilbur collected more TNT and rigged Manburg once more. Before they all knew it, it was the day of the final battle. 

Wilbur laced up his boots and placed his beanie on his head, and Tommy put on his armor and got his crossbow ready. This was it. Either they took L’Manburg back, or it was all over. 

Before they walked to meet their friends, Wilbur took his brother to the L’Mantree, the only original tree left in the country. “Look, Tommy, if this doesn’t go well, I’m gonna blow this place to smithereens, but it will go well! Do you know why, Tommy?”

“Why?”

“Because no one is on Schlatt’s side.” He whispered. “And the people who are on his side don’t even care about him! That’s why you shouldn’t be afraid. And yes, the whole place is rigged. Do you know how many stacks of TNT I have?”

“How many stacks do you have, Wilbur?” Tommy wasn’t sure if he really wanted to know the answer.

“Eleven and a half stacks, Tommy.”

Tommy was speechless. 

“I would say that at least we still have each other, but we don’t. At the end of the day, if it all goes wrong, then you’re probably gonna hate me for what I’ll do.”

The two of them finally joined the rest of their team. Before the rebels could say anything to each other, Schlatt started firing down flaming arrows at them from the top of a tower. Dream ran over to Quackity and killed him. When Quackity respawned, they all scrambled for safety. The battle was going great so far. 

“Look, everyone,” Tommy said. “We don’t need to blow anything up today.”

“Tommy,” Qauckity said, “we have to remember that one of us here is a traitor.”

“Maybe there is no traitor,” Niki added. “Maybe Dream just said that to scare us.”

“It’s probably me,” Wilbur said bluntly. They all looked at him. 

“Yeah...” They all agreed. It was hard to tell if he was joking or not.

“It’s not me this time. I can tell you that.” Eret blurted out. “Dream has taken everything from me. Dream has removed my kingship...”

“Wait, why?”

“Because I chose to do what was right over what would get me more power.”

“Awwww,” Wilbur gushed. “I have to admit, that’s adorable.”

Out of the blue, Dream and Schlatt’s guards, ender pearled over to them and started attacking them. Dream slashed Quackity with a sword and burned all of the things, including his clothes.

“WHY DOES DREAM KEEP TARGETING ME? I DON’T EVEN HAVE CLOTHES ON ANYMORE!” 

They all waited again for Quackity, who now only had his underwear, and they quickly scrambled back to Pogtopia.

“Dream just killed a Mexican! He’s a racist!” Everyone couldn’t help but laugh at Quackity. 

“Listen, everybody,” Tommy tried to get everyone’s attention. “We need to pull ourselves together. Does anyone have any extra resources they could spare? We need to pool all our resources together.”

“I’m stepping forward.” Said Technoblade. “I have the supplies for the revolution. I have been preparing for this moment for months.”

“I’m naked, Techno.”

“I can see that, Quackity, but it’s okay. I have supplies.”

Wilbur laughed, “How are you doing, Big Q?”

“DREAM BURNED MY CLOTHES! I’M NAKED!”

Tubbo finally handed him a set of leather armor.

“Leather! You want me to cover myself with leather!?”

As the two started bickering and the rest laughed at them, Wilbur stepped toward Niki.

“I have something for you to fight for, Niki.” He took her hand and led her down a path where a fox was sitting with a sign above it that said,  _ For Niki. _ “It’s for you! Since your other fox died...”

Niki looked at the fox for a few moments. She looked like she was about to cry. Wilbur started worrying that he may have done a bad thing. 

“Thank you, Wilbur.” She finally said as she pulled him in for a hug. They hadn’t talked much since everything went down. Maybe if they had, things wouldn’t have become so messed up.

“Hey! You two!” Techno interrupted their moment. “We’re overthrowing the government, stop flirting!” He turned to the rest of them. “Everyone follow me!”

Quackity pushed everyone aside so he could be the first one in line following Techno. “I’m naked! I deserve to be first in line!”

“All you clowns, be quiet. All of our problems are solvable. Just follow me to my secret base.”

Wilbur, Tommy, and Eret started having flashbacks to the final control room from their first revolutionary war. Still, when they entered Techno’s secret base, there was no button in sight, and the chests that lined the walls were filled to the brim with arrows, netherite weapons, and much more. 

“Time for the revolution! Take whatever you need, boys!” Techno turned to Niki. “And girl... I guess.”

The rebels suited up and stuffed their inventories full of as many weapons as they possibly could fit. Quackity looked around for clothes that would fit him, but Techno was much taller than him, so everything he tried sagged. He was just happy he wasn’t naked anymore. 

“You disgust and amaze me, Techno!” Tubbo exclaimed, his pockets stuffed with all the emeralds. 

They ran out of the base with new enthusiasm and headed toward the train tracks, which led them to Manburg.

“Time to get L’Manburg back, baby!” Quackity yelled as they ran.

“If it fails, Manburg is going under,” Wilbur added.

“We literally can’t fail though. Not with all this gear.”

“That’s what Tommy and I said about the election and look what happened.”

Quackity giggled. He became vice president, that’s what happened.

They all stopped before stepping into the borders of Manburg.

“This is the last chance for Judas to reveal himself,” Quackity announced.

“Wittle ‘ol me?” Wilbur teased.

Everyone laughed; they really thought he was joking. Wilbur stood back for a second and watched all his friends excitedly march into battle. He felt a burning in his nose. This could be the last time Wilbur ever saw any of them. He was sure none of them would ever want to see him again if he enacted his plan. He took a deep breath to calm himself and started after his friends.

They stormed to the top of the tower and looked down on Dream and his small army. They started raining arrows down on them. Everyone paid close attention to Wilbur, a ticking time bomb, to make sure he didn’t get hurt. If Wilbur lost, they would all lose. 

Tubbo suddenly felt someone punch him from behind, but there was no one there when he turned around. He alerted everyone of this, and they all ran out of the tower to fight their enemies head-on. 

Dream’s army slowly started falling back. They knew that they were outnumbered and outpowered. Dream still managed to burn all of Quackity’s things again, though, leaving him running around through the battlefield in nothing but his underwear, searching for more tools and armor to take.

Dream, invisible, quickly yanked Wilbur into a building. 

“We need to talk.” He said as his invisibility potion faded away, revealing his bloodied smiley face mask.

“How are you, Dream? That was a nice invisibility play you just did there.”

“Yeah, it was kind of out of my comfort zone, but I decided to try it out.”

They spoke like they were two friends catching up over a cup of coffee, not enemies who were in the middle of a battle.

“Look, Wilbur, Schlatt’s an idiot.”

“How long did it take you to figure that out? Schlatt’s an idiot. We knew this already.”

“Yeah, well, he’s more of an idiot than you would think.”

“Oh?”

“I thought that fighting with him would be good, and I gave him full netherite armor-- where is he?”

“What?”

Dream escorted Wilbur out of the building. “Look around. Where’s Schlatt.”

Wilbur looked over at the crowd of fighting people. Jschlatt was nowhere to be seen. He said this, and he and Dream walked back into the battle, and Wilbur told his men to hold their fire.

“Dream has something to say, everyone.”

They all looked at the masked man with confusion and anticipation. 

“We would like to surrender,” He said after a few moments. “And uh, it’s because Schlatt is an idiot. I have to show you all something. Follow me.”

The eight of them reluctantly followed Dream to the remains of the Camarvan, where Schlatt was curled up in a ball in the corner. Everyone, including Dream and his guards, stared at the president in confusion and awe. His shirt was unbuttoned, and his tie was loosened, and his hair was all frazzled. 

“What are you doing, Schlatt?” Wilbur asked.

Schlatt looked around at all the people looking at him. “Is this a surprise birthday party?”

“What are you doing in my old drug van? It better not be drugs!”

Schlatt took a swig from his flask, and everyone started muttering to each other. 

“He’s really fallen off!” Said Tubbo.

“Is he drunk?” Niki asked.

“I think he’s a little more than drunk, Niki,” Fundy answered.

“This is really pathetic actually,” One of the guards added.

“I don’t even know what to say.” Dream admitted. 

“I was so excited about the revolution, but now I’m just sad.” Techno threw his sword down.

Schlatt looked up suddenly. “Fundy?! Fundy, what are you fucking doing here?!”

The fox sighed, “Schlatt, are you fucking drunk?” He had a bitter tone.

Schlatt tackled him and started throwing pathetic punches at him. “You little bitch!” He yelled. “Who’s gonna rule with me, man?!”

Fundy pushed him off. “You fucked up the country, dude! You fucked up everything!”

Schlatt took another swig from his flask. 

“You had a dream and I followed it!” Fundy continued. “But then you ruined it! You ruined all of it! I thought you were something...”

“Yeah, I am something. Something you’re not, Fundy.”

“Yeah? And what is that?”

Schlatt lit a cigarette. “I’m a man!”

Wilbur shook his head and pinned Schlatt against the wall. “Okay, that’s it. I don’t care what you have to say anymore. Are you ready to die Schlatt? Are you ready to die? Are you ready to have this end now?”

Schlatt pushed Wilbur away. “Fuck off, dude!”

“Tommy?” Wilbur asked,

“Yeah?”

“Do you still have Dream’s crossbow?”

Tommy excitedly pulled the crossbow out of his inventory. He hadn’t gotten the chance to use it yet. “I do.” 

“Tommy, I want you to put an arrow between his eyes.”

Tommy aimed his crossbow at the president’s head.

“You know if I die, this country goes down with me.”

“No, it won’t, Schlatt.” The boy said.

“I’ve had everybody turn on me. In my time of need, everybody turned on me.” At the end of the day, Schlatt really did just need help, but no one ever stopped to think about that.

“Kill him! Kill him! Kill him!” they all chanted. 

“Schlatt, what do you have to say for yourself? What are your last words?” His old friend asked.

“Does anybody smell toast?”

“That- those weren’t really the last words we were looking for. You smell toast?”

“Is he having a stroke?”

Schlatt grabbed onto Quackity’s collar before falling, dragging him down with him. “Flatty... patty...” He said before dropping dead. Tommy hadn’t even touched him. 

They just won. They won L’Manburg back. It wasn’t exactly how they all expected to win, but they did. 

“Wait so, who was the traitor?” Wilbur asked Dream.

Dream chuckled. “There wasn’t a traitor, Wilbur. I was trying to make you guys scared.” 

“I thought I was- okay. So what now?”

“We won!!!” Tommy shouted, and everyone started cheering. 

“Whooo, we killed a man with heart problems! Pog!” Techno cheered.

Everyone gathered in the town square, and Wilbur turned to Tommy.

“Tommy, I know you probably never thought I would say this, but go take your place on the podium and give us a speech. Or should I say, President-Elect Tommyinnit.”

Tommy smiled with pride and stepped up to the podium. Maybe Wilbur had finally come to his senses. “Hello, everyone.” He said into the mic. “Well, it looks like we won!” He chuckled. “And I can’t believe I’m gonna say this, but even with the hardships, the tyranny we’ve been through, Wilbur, Tubbo, after everything,  _ it was meant to be _ !” 

“It was meant to be!” Eret repeated. “That’s my line! It  _ was  _ meant to be!”

Everyone clapped. Everyone except for Dream, who stood in the back of the crowd with his arms crossed. 

“Wilbur,” Tommy continued, “Thank you for me president, and I know you said I never would be.”

“You can be,” Wilbur affirmed.

“I don’t really wanna bow down to Tommy...” Techno murmured.

“I’ll bow to him!” One of the guards exclaimed.

“Don’t be weird, Karl.”

“No, no, I can’t.” Tommy looked over at Dream, who began chuckling. “I still have unfinished business. Dream still has my discs, and I can’t do this until I’m done. Wilbur, I can’t be president because I’m not done until I have those discs back, and it’s not fair for me to rule Manburg.  _ Le  _ Manburg. Wilbur, I know you had points where we all thought you were gonna blow everything up- you went off about Chekhov’s Gun or some shit- but that was all just talk.” He sighed. “Wilbur, take your place on the podium.”

Wilbur reluctantly stepped onto the podium as Tommy joined the rest of the crowd. “Look, I’m gonna keep this brief. Tommy, your first and only decree as president turned out to be the best one you could ever make! Everyone, welcome to L’Manburg! In keeping with the theme, I am also going to be making a change.” He pointed to the ugly obsidian flag. “That is not our flag! Our flag is yellow, black, red, white, and blue!” They all cheered. “However! I also... cannot be your president.” He looked at Techno. “Techno, you’ve taught me a lot. You’ve taught me that government is not the way to go and to be honest, it would be hypocritical of me to run a government, so it’s important for me to learn how to say goodbye to a nation, to my L’Manburg...” He paused for a moment. “Tubbo, I want you to come upon the stage.”

“Uh, what?” Tubbo slowly walked over to the stage.

“I know being up here is probably quite traumatic, but-”

“It still smells like my guts up here!”

“Tubbo, look at me. You’re a good kid and an even better spy.” Wilbur stepped off the stage for the last time and took a seat next to Niki.

Tubbo cleared his throat. “I’ve kind of been put on the spot here. I wasn’t expecting to be up here surrounded by friends, enemies- who I’m gonna be honest, I don’t really hate all too much, but I really enjoy seeing the unity, and that’s all that really matters. Everyone here is brought together, and I feel like that’s important. I feel like there’s a solid future to be built on here. Yes, it has damages! Everything has damages! When I think of damages, I think of a piece of wood, which has had nails banged into it. You can take the nails out, but the holes are still there- I’m really trying the whole metaphor thing here, I’m sorry.”

Wilbur clapped, “You’re doing great!”

“Yeah, well, there are still holes, but the holes can be filled, and that’s what I would like to do as president! I don’t want to be an agent of chaos, if you will, I don’t want to start any violent activity. That’s honestly the last thing I want. I just wanna fix this place up! I want it to be back as it was in its hay day!”

“Hell yeah, dude!” Eret cheered him on.

“I feel like now that everyone is here in unity, no one is banned, and although the walls were nice, I feel like not having them allows free passage. Everyone can be here! Everyone has fought for this nation in one way or another, and that’s what counts. Thank you, everyone. It’s been an honor!” 

Everyone cheered and clapped as Tubbo stepped off the stage, and they all began tearing down the decorations of the Red Festival. 

Niki went over to the stage and tore down a part of the giant  _ S _ , revealing a piece of TNT. She gasped and slowly turned her head toward Technoblade, who lunged at her. 

All hell broke loose. Arrows and fireworks were thrown all around. No one knew who was on what side. 

“Guys?!” Tommy looked around frantically amidst all the chaos. “Guys, where’s Wilbur?!”


	11. Chekhov’s Gun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Chekhov’s Gun,” Wilbur muttered to himself as he escaped the chaos and headed to the room with the button. He’d been wondering the whole time if the button still worked. He looked at the song scribbled on the walls. There was a special place, where men could go and emancipate. That special place did exist once. Even with Tubbo in charge, Wilbur didn’t think it could exist again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> //TW: implications of suicide

“Chekhov’s Gun,” Wilbur muttered to himself as he escaped the chaos and headed to the room with the button. He’d been wondering the whole time if the button still worked. He looked at the song scribbled on the walls. There  _ was  _ a special place, where men could go and emancipate. That special place did exist once. Even with Tubbo in charge, Wilbur didn’t think it could exist again. 

The button was right there in front of him. If there was a time to press it, it was then. The thing that he built the nation didn’t exist anymore. The one thing he had worked towards was gone. 

“It’s over...” He chuckled to himself.

“What are you doing?”

Wilbur turned around to see his father standing behind him. “Phil?”

“What are you doing, Wilbur?”

Wilbur hadn’t seen his father in years, not since he decided to go on his own journey; to start L’Manburg. If this was any other circumstance, he would be running into his arms.

“Do you know what this button is?”

“Uh uh.”

“Have you heard the song on the walls?”

“I have.”

“There  _ was  _ a special place, but it’s there any more you know? It’s-”

“It is there, Will. You’ve just won it back!”

Wilbur punched the wall and grunted. “I’M ALWAYS SO CLOSE TO PRESSING THIS BUTTON, PHIL! I’ve been here... I’ve been here so many times.”

“And you want to just blow it up?”

Wilbur winced. “Yeah, I do. I think I do...”

“You’ve fought so hard to get this nation back, Will.”

“I don’t even know if the button still works... I guess there’s only one way to find out.”

“Are you sure you want to take this risk?” His father chuckled, “There is a lot of TNT potentially connected to that button.”

“Phil, there was a saying by a traitor, once part of L’Manburg. A traitor named Eret.”

“Yeah?”

“He had a saying, Phil.” Wilbur pressed the button. “It was never meant to be.”

Wilbur saluted as the nation he started exploded right in front of him. An orgasmic feeling washed over him.

“My L’Manburg, Phil! My unfinished symphony! Forever unfinished! If I can’t have it no one can!” He handed Phil a diamond sword. “Phil, kill me. Kill me right now. Stab me with the sword. Murder me right now!”

“You’re my son!”

“Do it, Phil. Do it! Stab me!” He motioned toward all his injured friends staring up at them through the hole in the room that was just created. “They all want you to!” 

Phil grunted. “You couldn’t just win?! You had to just throw your toys in the bin!?”

“Phil,” Wilbur said calmly. “Dream said earlier that there was no traitor.” He laughed. “He fucking lied. It was me. It was me and Techno. Kill me, do it, Phil, kill me,”

Phil suddenly stabbed his son in the chest with the diamond sword. 

Wilbur’s life flashed before his eyes as his father held his dying body close. He saw his friend’s smiling faces. The camravan. The revolution. He saw it all. 

“My L’Manburg...,” Wilbur croaked before finally going limp. He was dead. The Wilbur everyone knew and loved was dead. 

Tommy and the rest of his friends watched in horror as Technoblade placed soul sand down, prepared to unleash his creatures of mass destruction. They had all just watched their nation blow up in front of them and Wilbur be stabbed with a sword by his own father. 

“Techno, step away from there!” Tommy aimed his crossbow at the pig.

“Tommy, do you think you’re a hero? Is that what this is?” Techno chuckled. 

“I just... I just wanted L’Manburg back. That’s all I’ve ever wanted.”

“You just wanted power. You just wanted to be the hero” He started placing the wither skulls one by one.

“I didn’t!”

“The thing about this world, Tommy, is that good things don’t happen to heroes. Let me tell you a story, Tommy. The story of a man called Theseus.” Techno took every chance he could to show off that he was an English major for a year before dropping out of university. “His city-state was in danger, and he sent himself forward into enemy lines, he slayed the minotaur and saved his city. Do you know what they did to him, Tommy?”

“What did they do?” He asked softly.

“They exiled him. He died in disgrace, despised by his people. That’s what happens to heroes, but if you want to be the hero, then that’s fine.” He placed down one more wither skull.

“Don’t do this, Techno! I’m not the hero!”

“If you wanna be a hero, then die like one!” Techno put the final skull on the sand and two withers exploded from it, shooting fireballs at everything not already destroyed by Wilbur’s TNT.

Tommy hugged his friends close as they watched their home be blown up to bits. Once the withers were gone, all that was left was nothing. Tubbo was president of a crater.


	12. i’m so cold.

Dying wasn’t what Wilbur expected it to feel like. He wasn’t greeted by his friends, family, and lovers at the pearly gates; he wasn’t subject to an eternity of suffering in Hell; everything was just...  _ cold _ . His pale skin was cold to the touch, and even in the sun’s warm rays, he still shivered. He looked down in confusion at the large crater and his crying friends. He was wearing his favorite yellow sweater, which now had a large gash in the chest, and his red beanie. His voice was shrill and soft, unlike what it was before. 

He couldn’t remember much of what happened. 

He remembered the smell of bread; he remembered L’Manburg; the revolution; bullying Tommy (he’s a child); sparring with Techno as a kid; the wind; being president; people cheering for him; Fundy growing up; Niki; the camarvan; Tubbo building everything; Phil protecting him; Sally the Salmon; Phil stabbing him to death with a sword; a large explosion; the taste of salt; air in his lungs; winning the election; a ravine; Techno’s armory; books; tunnels; arrows; then his mind went blank. He didn’t remember his exile; the button; the withers; his slow descent into madness. He couldn’t remember any of it.

He watched from afar as everyone struggled to rebuild L’Manburg and to exact their revenge on Technoblade. They forgave Wilbur. They forgave him for everything. 

He didn’t know what they forgave him for, but he had a feeling it was bad. He didn’t forgive himself. 

Everything was just so cold.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the end of the story! I have some of season two written so i might be posting that soon. Thank you for reading :)


End file.
